


Stone Skipping (draft? Ver. 1?)

by Lord_Jay



Category: Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (Anime), Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Disclaimer: Magi isn’t mine., In which the author plops an OC that’s NOT a SI into Magi, It’s not reincarnation just saying, More tags to be added, So Hakuryuu has a third older brother..., Will anyone read this?, i think the fandoms kinda dead, in case you wanted to know, little ideas, said older brother is traveling with Sinbad on his adventure, thats basically the summary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22579489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Jay/pseuds/Lord_Jay
Summary: Fate is like a river, ever-flowing, ever-lasting, only without a destination, but rivers can be disrupted. A single stone can change its flow forever, a few oddly placed stones can alter it’s course completely.What if the First Emperor of Kou and his Empress had another night of passion only a year after the birth of the Second Prince? What if a few different turns led Sinbad to a nation warring with its neighbors for its own self-safety?Rewritten under the same name.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 50





	1. The First Stone

The piercing wails of a child brought relief to all who were in the birthing chambers, only two years after the birth of his second son, a third was born. Hakutoku peered down at his third child, another son, the physician claimed, and the Emperor was once again shocked by how tiny babies are, especially when his wife, Gyokuen, placed his new son, Hakuto, in his arms, before passing out.

A third son, the third prince of Kou, borned only two years after the second, and five years after the first, this son is his, _his_ , and it doesn’t matter that a small part of him was disappointed that it was a boy, Hakutoku was ecstatic to show his two sons their brother. And that’s what he did.   
  


* * *

Hakuren doesn’t know what to make of the little lump father had placed in Elder Brother’s arm, “ _your new brother,_ ” Father had told them, Hakuren begs to differ, how could a weak little thing like this be the brother of him and his strong brother? It doesn’t make sense. Hakuren wanted to call Father back and tell him he’s made a mistake, that this ugly thing couldn’t be his brother, they don’t even look alike!

But when Hakuyuu started rocking the baby as it let out a whimper, Hakuren found that he didn’t care, that this little lump of flesh and bones doesn’t need to look like him, that he’s already accepted him as his brother, is it instinct? He didn’t know, but Hakuren no longer thinks it matters.

* * *

At a tender age of three, Hakuto found out that not everyone is kind. The red, sticky blood on his face and his father’s sword told him so. The man who was running at him a mere minute ago laid on his father’s feet, motionless and cold.

At three, Hakuto learned that he didn’t want to be protected, he didn’t want that sticky blood and cold body to be his family’s, he wanted to fight, just like how Elder Brother Hakuyuu had been doing and how Elder Brother Hakuren had been starting to do, he was determined. He followed his Brothers on their lessons and refused to back down when they attempted to stop him. Eventually Father gave in, he allowed Hakuto a tutor and gave him his first sword, it was a small thing, and wooden, but Hakuto treasured it for it was the first gift Father had given him at his request, first thing given to him that he actually wanted, not one of those silly robes or scrolls of fairytales that he read and memorized from bottoms-up.

So he kept it, and he used it for many years to-come.

* * *

At four the people of Kou learned that their third prince is a natural, at the sword.

“ _Almost_ too _natural_.” Some whispered, and they were right, the Prince’s motions were smooth, talented, and graceful, nothing like one’s movement should be after only one year of tutoring.

At four, the people learned that Hakuto was a natural at the art of swordplay.

* * *

At five, Hakuto learned that being talented lead to boredom, he was too good at the sword, a prodigy, is what they called him. Hakuto didn’t understand why they were so happy to call him that, he didn’t feel like he _earned_ his talent, to be borned to be good at something doesn’t feel right, it feels like the achievement wasn’t _his_. That his talent in swordsplay was fake, his work not _hard_ work, just little works and movement. He found no _passion_ , not the feeling. He can’t find the smile Elder Brother Hakuyuu has when practicing his stances, his eyes doesn’t glint like Elder Brother Hakuren’s when he swings his broadsword.

He doesn’t find passion, until he picked up a left over arrow and a bow dropped by a soldier in his rush for a meeting with his Father, something about the neighboring countries’ war starting to affect Kou.

_**TWANG!** _

The arrow misses the target, and finally, at five, Hakuto found his passion.

* * *

At six Hakuto learned of war. His brothers told him it was an ugly thing, but his Father told him it was a needed thing. “ _For if there is no war,_ ” he said, “ _there will only be deaths and underhanded manslaughter, the grudges held from previous ages will nurtur and grow until it becomes something worse._ ”

Hakuto wondered what “something worse,” was, but he thought that nothing can be worse than the sticky blood and motionless corpse from three years ago.

Until _there was._

He stared in horror as bodies upon bodies piled onto wagons and were dragged to the priests his mother had recently introduced to the palace. The sticky blood sprinkled the ground and he heard someone’s breathe hitch, was it his? He doesn’t know, Father wanted him to learn, just like his brothers did, what war was.

“Do you see this Hakuto?” He said, “this is war, but if there is no war, then this will only get worse, the bodies may never be found, revenge may never be achieved, peace for Kou may never happen. Without this war, this resistance, the Kou would only be playthings under the thumbs Gou and Kai. Only fight wars to protect, Hakuto, not to gain.” Hakuto didn’t know what could be worse than this, but he doesn’t want to see it.

At six, Hakuto learned to fight in war.

* * *

At seven, Hakuto met his younger sister, borned while he was away with his father at their war campaign for him to learn of war. Hakuei was a little one, she was born slightly earlier than she should’ve been, “ _Premature_ ,” Mother said, “ _but only slightly_.” Little Hakuei learned to toddle before she crawled, she followed Elder Brother Hakuren around the most, but she cheered whenever Hakuto was shooting the bow, jumping when he hit the center.

At seven, Hakuto finds himself seeking power to protect his younger sister.

* * *

Hakuyuu loved all his siblings. But he couldn’t help but frown when Hakuren once again told a noble, _Minister Chang_ , to... uh “ _stick his prissy noble ass somewhere that is not near his younger siblings._ ” And although Hakuyuu wants to agree, he does not approve of Hakuren using such, ah... _colorful_ language in front of Hakuto and Hakuei.

Even though Chang was offering his _20 year old son_ to Hakuei, his _2 year old sister_. And the eight year old next to Hakuren high-fived the Second Prince when he thought the First wasn’t looking.

* * *

At ten, Hakuto met his cousins. Kouen, who is one year older than him, and Koumei, who is one year younger than him.

Kouen looks up to his Father and Elder Brothers like they were a gift from God, while Koumei gets dragged into so much of Hakuren’s mischief.

Kouen and Koumei, who are nice, kind and smart, so unlike the ugly man they called Father, and Hakuto’s Uncle.

 _Koutoku_ , they said his name was, a loyal, supportive member of the Emperor’s army.

 _Pig_ , Hakuren called him, a lazy, cowardly, selfish man who reaped the benefits of being the Emperor’s brother yet never raises a _finger_ to fight in the army’s fronts.

At ten, Hakuto learned that not all of his family could be trusted.

* * *

At eleven, Hakuto made his first kill, although it wasn’t his first time seeing death, he was determined to protect his younger brother, Hakuryuu, it was odd, instead of feeling bad for killing someone, he only felt relief for his brother’s safety, is this what Father felt eight years ago? It doesn’t matter, because his family is safe, it doesn’t matter, that the arrow stuck next to the crying baby was bloody and the woman who tried to choke his brother was there, on the floor, with that disgusting blood.

It doesn’t matter because his brother will never remember this scene with his three month old, still developing mind.

* * *

At fourteen Hakuto met a man with purple hair and golden eyes, who spoke boldly to his father and made demands that would’ve seemed unreasonable without the offers he added. He saw the glint in the man’s eyes, and the spark in his Father’s.

At fourteen, Hakuto departed from his home land on a journey with a man named Sinbad.


	2. The Second Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages:
> 
> Hakuyuu: 19  
> Hakuren: 16  
> Sinbad: 16  
> Kouen: 15  
> Hakuto: 14  
> Koumei: 13  
> Hakuei: 8  
> Hakuryuu: 3
> 
> I did the age by using Wikipedia and some mental calculations, they should be right, if not... well I’m sticking to them

The waves lapped over the sides of the ship. Sinbad stepped over the rails, purple hair swaying in the ocean wind, behind him, the crew was at work, Hinahoho weighting the anchor and Ja'far preparing whatever was necessary for their trip.

Although they had attempted to sail westwards to Sasan, a storm had prevented them, instead, the group decided to sail eastwards, where the sun was shining brightly.

Perhaps it is another one of fate's miracles at work, guiding them towards the path destined for him. Sinbad doesn't know now, although maybe he would later.

The port they landed on was a port in the Kou Empire, a nation in war against its Eastern and Western Neighbors, Gou and Kai, but that was not what they were here about, this trip is purely business.

After seeing the value of Kou merchandise—mainly the silk, to the world, the Sindria Trading Company was determined to form a trading deal with Kou and be able to sell that silk, along with some of the other specialties, including spices and dye.

As they finally landed on the oddly barren port, the trio stepped onto the first land they've seen in weeks.

—before immediately getting arrested by war-paranoid soldiers.

* * *

He doesn't understand how he got into this position, getting arrested was _not_ how he had envisioned his trip to Kou, although it is to be expected, the country is in war against both sides after all, anyone can be a spy.

Truly, war disgusts him.

Sinbad had wanted to gain audience with the Emperor in a dignified way, from Company President to a Country Emperor.

As long as he gets his meeting though, he supposed it wouldn't matter.

He just hoped that the Emperor would be as kind as King Rashid was.

* * *

The Emperor was a stern, dignified man, his many robes seemed to sway as he lifted his hands to wave away the soldiers holding Sinbad and his friends down.

The Singularity stared up at the Emperor with unflinching eyes, the man seemed amused by this, eyes glinting with light, he spoke, voice deep and charming, "so... you are the intruder my soldiers claimed had landed on my ports, despite it being closed off to all non-military vessels."

_Oops._ "Ahaha, really? The port was simply the only one we found, forgive us, Emperor, we mean no disrespect, we are not from around here, you see."

The Emperor hummed, "foreigners? Kou is off limits to all who are not of our country, do you not know this?" He gave the group below him a seemingly cursory look, although that glint in his dark eyes were still there, signifying that he was analyzing every feature of the merchants in front of him.

Ja'far, from behind him spoke up for the first time, keeping his eyes below the Emperor's, "no, great Emperor, we are merchants from Reim, you see, although we have heard of your war, we know nothing of your laws."

The big man behind the Emperor roared, interrupting the Emperor, "Such insolence! To speak to the Emperor with such disrespect—brother! I implore you to execute these men immediately, it is as I said, they are spies of Kai, of the Western countries, if we do not, they mi—"

"That is enough, Koutoku, I see no disrespect from these men, they spoke of only the truth," the Emperor said, before turning his attention once again to Sinbad, "boy, you claim to be of Reim, if so, you must have a reason to be here, state the business you have with my Kou Empire!"

A smirk escaped Sinbad, finally, he is able to speak his mind, the reason for this whole journey.

"Your majesty, Emperor Hakutoku, I am Sinbad, a dungeon capturer and the president of the Sindria Trading Company, I am here to establish a trade deal with Kou."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, "you are the president? Your company must not be large then, if the president is meeting personally to negotiate."

A smile, _always smile,_ "of course not, great Emperor, this deal is simply too important to send a simple diplomat in my place, Kou, after all, _does_ have some of the best of all resources."

Layers of fine silk swayed as the Emperor stroke his long beard, "you do realize," he began, "that Kou does not establish _trade deals_ with anyone _not_ associated with Kou?"

"Yes, yes I do," His voice gaining more confidence with each word, he continued, "but there is a first for everything, right?"

A laugh, sharp and quiet, broke from the Emperor's lips, "and why, pray tell, would I make an exception for you?" He asked, genuinely curious yet also greatly skeptical.

The teen drew his sword, the soldiers inside the room tensed, Sinbad showed off the star on the blade and smirked, "your majesty, surely you have heard of the power of the djinn? The mysterious magic from inside a dungeon? With your ongoing war with Gou and Kai, it will be easier for you to have this power, no?"

The Emperor's head tilted, leaning forward, his eyes sparkling with interest, "indeed, although we are winning our war with the neighboring nations, a power from metal vessels would be useful."

His smirk widened, _bullseye,_ "so, I can hel—"

"—however," the Emperir continued, "we are not going to employ _your_ djinn, Sinbad, the Magi of Kou has recently brought up a dungeon west of Hoan, but he was not able to lead anyone through it before he had to leave for Parthevia, in exchange for a trade deal, you will help Kou gain the power of the dungeon."

Sinbad nodded slowly, the deal wasn't too bad, he also got to go on another adventure! Although some of the Enperor's words confused him, _Magi? Raising Dungeons? In Parthevia?_

The Emperor turned to one of the soldiers by the door, "bring my three eldest children here," he told him, the soldier nodded, clasping his hands together, he bowed before hurrying off.

The Emperor once again turned to the three who seeked his audience, "you will bring my three sons with you, do not worry, they are all experienced warriors, you will _not_ capture the dungeon, the power will belong to Kou, should anyone who is _not_ one of my sons return with the vessel, the deal is off and you will lose your head by the 'morrow’s morning, that is all."

Sinbad nodded, although he won't be able to capture it, a dungeon trudging _and_ a sweet trading deal? Count him in!

The soldier returned, following three young men with black hair and blue eyes, the Eldest looked maybe late teens while the middle one looked Sinbad's age, the youngest looked the age Sinbad was when he first captured Baal

All three clasped their hands together and bowed to the Emperor, "your majesty has summoned us?" The Eldest inquires, the Emperor nodded, "indeed, Sinbad, these are my three eldest sons, Hakuyuu, the crown prince and heir, Hakuren, the Second Imperial Prince, and Hakuto, the third, all are experienced in live combat."

Sinbad walked up to the three men in front of him, "hey, I'm Sinbad!" Casually waving a hand, one would've thought he was talking to a friend, not someone who he had no idea existed until two minutes ago.

The guy in the middle, _Hakuyuu, his name is Hakuyuu,_ tilted his head slightly downwards in acknowledgement, "hello, Sinbad, I am Hakuyuu, Father said you are to lead us into the dungeon summoned by the great Magi?"

Behind him, Hakuren snorted slightly, earning a discreet jab from his younger brother, before muttering something to said younger brother.

The Third Prince whispered something back, throwing a glance at Hinahoho, before smirking at his brother, he spoke aloud, "I have heard of stories of the great dungeons, including the tales brought to us by the merchants of Kou, they speak of a a boy who became the first dungeon capturer who goes by the name Sinbad, is that Sinbad you? You _do_ have a giant companion."

Sinbad dipped his head and slapped on a bashful smile, "oh? even the great Imperial Princes has heard of my adventures?"

Hakuren nodded, "indeed, we have heard stories of your great feats, although here is not the place to discuss such things," he turned to the Emperor, "may we be excused to speak with our future travel companions, Father?"

Hakutoku, who was watching the exchange with interest, nodded, "very well, you are to be ready in a week's time, get to know your new companions, Hakuto, bring Sinbad to the Boar Wing, Hakuyuu, Hakuren, stay."

The three brothers clasped their hands and bowed, Hakuto turning to slightly bow at Sinbad before gesturing for the group to follow him, waving slightly to his brothers before closing the doors to the throne room.

* * *

"So..." Sinbad began casually, "you're gonna be our guide?"

Beside him, Ja'far hissed, _"Sin,"_ but the purple haired Singularity ignored him, Hakuto nodded stoically, "yes, I am to help you accommodate to the Boar Wing, where you are to reside."

"Yeah, Boar. Right." Sinbad scratched the back of his head awkwardly, the formal atmosphere slightly unfomfortable, "hey, Hakuto—Can I call you Hakuto?"

The dark haired man blinked, slightly confused, "you can refer to me as you like, Sinbad-dono."

_Dono?_

Sinbad laughed, "you don't need to be so formal, since we're gonna be spending an extensive amount of time together, you can just call me Sin."

Hakuto tilted his head, as if he was thinking about it, before nodding, "very well, Sinbad-dono _is_ a bit of a mouthful, especially for referring to someone the same age as Brother Hakuren."

Sinbad grinned, taking the accept the acceptance of the nickname as a step towards getting friendlier with the royal. "That's pretty blunt, are all the princes this blunt?"

"None of my brothers lie, although I am simply more honest, I prefer to not, ah... _beat around the bush_ , as they call it."

Eyebrows raised, Sinbad smiled, "that's good, I like people who are honest, they're more trustworthy, the type I would prefer to watch my back."

"Then it seems we have more in common than I thought."

* * *

The dew of the first morning spent in the Boar Wing was fresh, a nice, calming effect seems to emit from the many ponds in this wing, and although Sinbad knows that the effect is from his own mind, he couldn't help but feel at peace.

In the distance, he heard a loud **_THUNK!_** and a cheer, curious to see where the sound originated from, he stumbled through the archway and found himself in another wing, _the Wolf Wing_ , his mind supplied, drawing from what he remembered from the brief tour from the previous day.

He saw Prince Hakuto with a bow, arrow drawn and pointed at a target several meters down the garden, the Prince released the arrow and the string launched the arrow with a **_SNAP!_** before hitting the bullseye, right next to three more arrows, with another **_THUNK!_**

Sinbad heard a pair of cheers from behind the target and turned to see two blurs run past him and tackle Hakuto, the young Prince grunting as he stood strong.

The two blurs revealed to be two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy looking maybe three years of age and the girl, eight. Both bears strong resemblance to Hakuto and Sinbad assumes that they were the youngest children of the Emperor.

The girl squealed happily, speaking loudly to make up for the the boy’s quiet admiration.

“Brother Hakuto, that was so cool, you hit dead center four times. In a row!”

The Prince laughed, bright and freely, “really? Maybe you can do the same one day!

The girl frowned, “but only Brother Hakuto can shoot so well, even Brother Hakuyuu can only shoot three in a row, I’ve seen Brother Hakuto shoot ten, maybe more!”

The little boy next to her nodded shyly, “B-Brother Hakuren claims he can shoot thirty, but I’ve never seen him pick up a bow...”

Hakuto laughed again, picking up his two younger siblings with surprising strength, “Brother Hakuyuu and Hakuren are better at the art of the sword after all, that’s where they find their passion, mine is simply that of archery.”

“So Brother Hakuto is bad with the sword?” The young boy asked.

“No, no, Brother Hakuto is very good at the sword, I saw him practice once, he moves like a predator, fast and graceful!” The girl told her younger brother seriously. The boy nodded, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Yes, yes, Brother still take blade lessons as it is required, but Brother simply likes the bow more,” Hakuto patted the two kids in his arms on the head, before finally noticing Sinbad, his face turning to one of surprise before smiling, “Sin-san, what a surprise!”

_Guess formality is bred huh, seriously though,_ san _?_

“Yeah, surprised myself too! I was taking an early stroll before the sound of the arrows led me to this range.” The teen waved his arm at the garden.

“Yes, I enjoy polishing my skills in the morning before attending my Princely duties and my sword lessons, although the lessons should’ve been stopped a long while ago... I _do_ hope I was not disrupting you, the Wolf Wing is my private wing, I was unaware that my practice can be heard in the Boar Wing.”

“Oh no,” Sinbad quickly denied, “I was just walking around, I didn’t know I stumbled into your private wing, I hope I’m not interrupt your practice.”

Hakuto smiled, not unkindly, “of course not, I would’ve been finished by now if it wasn’t for two menaces insisting on a few more shots, I practice during the evenings too, after my swords lessons, although here is not an appropriate place to speak, the sun is rising, it would not do for our guest to be under its scorching heat, might I suggest a walk?”

The young President shook his head, “of course not, I would be honored.”

“Very well then, I _do_ wish to hear of some of your grand tales, come along you two, I should escort you back to Mother and Father’s Dragon Wing soon...”

* * *

“...and that’s how I saved Drakon from the Dragon King!” Sinbad finished his slightly modified story, grinning at the two kids–Hakuryuu and Hakuei—as they stared at him with awe.

“Quite an entertaining tale, Sin-san, it seems your adventures lead you to many fascinating places.” Hakuto complimented him, “Although I _do_ hope that Purson would not be as dangerous, it would be best if there are no dragons _tackling_ soldiers, after all, this expedition will only include your companions and my brothers.”

“Indeed, that is my hope too.” Another voice interjected, the group turned to see the two Eldest Princes walking towards them.

“Brother Hakuren!” Hakuei squealed, jumping at the Prince, who beamed back at his sister.

“Hakuei!”

As the two laughed, Hakuto walked up to Hakuyuu with Hakuryuu in tow. “Brother, I hope your conversation with Father went well?”

Oh right, the two stayed behind in the throne room the previous day.

Hakuyuu nodded, “it did, Father simply wants us to make sure we understand the dangers of the dungeon, and for us to properly accommodate our guests.” He bent down and absentmindedly patted Hakuryuu’s head before lifting him up, “hello Hakuryuu.”

“B-Brother Hakuyuu!” The shy kid lit up, wrapping his arms around the Crown Prince’s neck.

“Hey hey, what’s this? Only Hakuyuu? Don’t I deserve some love too?” Hakuren pouted, Hakuei giggling from her perch on his shoulders.

Hakuto snorted from next to Sinbad, “please, you already have Hakuei, _I_ should be the one complaining.”

“Alright, alright,” Hakuyuu placed calming hands on his two brothers after placing Hakuryuu back on the floor, “Sinbad-dono, I hope you are having a nice day?”

“Uh... yeah!” Taking a moment to recompose himself after being addressed so suddenly, “Prince Hakuto is very pleasant to speak with, he spoke of many interesting facts on Kou’s history.”

“More like the _lack_ of history,” Hakuren corrected, “after all, _we_ are making the first _real_ history of Kou.” He puffed up his chest and cleared his throat, “after valiantly defending themselves from the fierce invaders, the army of Kou led by the Great Prince Hakuren charged as he waved his ever-powerful sword and brought upon his villainous enemies the chaos dictated by Shangdi himself! What do you think?”

“...”

“Great Prince Hakuren?”

“Chaos dictated from Shangdi?”

Hakuto and Hakuyuu broke into laughter, Hakuei and Sinbad joining soon after.

“H-Hey! I’m being serious!” Hakuren’s indignation and offense was thoroughly ignored.

Little Hakuryuu toddled over to his Elder Brother obliviously, “don’t worry Brother,” he patted Hakuren’s leg, “the story has a lot of potential! I’m sure it’ll sell just as well as Mister Sinbad’s!”

“Wasn’t that what Teacher Wu said about Hakuryuu’s story on metal birds the other day?!” Hakuto howled as he brought up the kind teacher’s awkward attempt on complimenting Hakuryuu’s story.

“H-Hakuryuu...” Hakuren began crying crocodile tears, “Uwahhhhh!”

Hakuyuu stopped abruptly, “did you hear that?” He asked.

“Huh?” Hakuto looked around, Sinbad doing the same.

_“I honestly don’t see why his Majesty wou—”_

“ _Shit,_ that’s Chancellor Wang!” Hakuren leapt up, “quick, Hakuto, get Sinbad out of here!”

Hakuto nodded seriously, tugging at Sinbad’s arm, Hakuei and Hakuryuu assisting in dragging him away.

“W-Wha?”

_“Shhhh”_ Hakuto hissed, “Chancellor Wang is very particular on guests staying in their wings, he was also very against the you staying, if he catches you outside of the Boar Wing, he’ll jump at the chance to insist on you leaving, Brother Hakuyuu and Hakuren are holding him back for us to get you back to your Wing. Now _come on._ ”

* * *

_“A-ah! Chancellor Wang! What a beautiful morning!”_

_“But it is already noon, Prince Hakuren.”_

_“R-Really? I didn’t even notice! How careless of me!_ _H-Haha.”_

_“Yes...”_

_“Chancellor Wang, perhaps you would like to chat with us? I feel that a promotion for you has been long overdue.”_

_“Oh! Of course Prince Hakuyuu, where would you like to go?”_

_“Hmm, yes, perhaps we should head to the Rooster_ _Wing...”_

* * *

“Sin! There you are!” Ja’far voice echoed through the empty hallways of the Boar Wing, the ex-assassin running down through the Lotus Garden to the Pavilion, “what were you thinking, wandering off in the morning like that?! This place is massive you can get lost so easily.”

“He did get lost.” Hakuto’s voice interrupted Ja’far’s rambling, “We found him wandering around the Wolf Wing.”

Ja’far hastily bowed to the Prince, “thank you, your highness!” _We...?_

As he lifted his head, he saw two bodies partially hidden behind the Prince, Hakuei popped her head outwards and waved at him, Hakuryuu nodding at him shyly in acknowledgment.

“A-Ah! You must be the Emperor’s youngest children, forgive for not noticing you, I am Ja’far, a merchant.”

“A merchant?” Hakuei looked confused, “Father’s guests are merchants?”

Hakuto patted her head, “Yeah, Sin-san is also a merchant.”

“So merchants can fight dragons?” Hakuei asked Sinbad eagerly, Hakuto paling and shaking his head at Sinbad behind her back.

“Uh... yeah! Yeah they can!” Sinbad confirmed.

And that was all Hakuei needed.

“Brother Hakuto, I want to be a merchant!”

Groans could be heard all throughout the palace.

* * *

“Honestly, Sin! You need to be more careful, what if it wasn’t Prince Hakuto who found you but someone else? That Prince, Koutoku, the Emperor’s brother would’ve had you beheaded in an instant!”

Sinbad absentmindedly tuned out the rest of Ja’far’s rant. It was the evening after Sinbad’s morning adventure and Ja’far resumed his scolding the minute Prince Hakuto had left, commenting on how he needed to bring his siblings back to the Dragon Wing.

Honestly, he’s been ranting for the past five hours, cursing and threatening to tie the teen to his chair if he had to.

_How has he not run out of things to say?_

“—Sin! _Hey Sin!_ Are you even listening?!”

Torn from his musings, he nodded, “yeah, don’t worry Ja’far, next time I won’t get lost.”

_“That’s not the point!”_

“Hey Sinbad, there’s someone at the door!” Hinahoho interrupts before Ja’far could continue.

_Thank the lord for small mercies._

He didn’t think he could handle another five hours.

Walking to the door, he greeted the servant there, “yes? Is there something I can help you with?”

“Ah, Lord Sinbad! I am Prince Hakuto’s assistant.”

_Hakuto’s assistant? What could it be about?_

“The Prince has invited you to dine with him in his Wing along with his honored Brothers! Here is a note for you to pass through the Wings without any hindrances, the Prince has also extended the invitation to your companions.” The servant bowed, handing him a piece of paper, “then I must return to his highness, have a nice day, Lord Sinbad.”

Sinbad stared at the note in his hand, it was folded and had a stamp on it.

He unfolded the note, it read:

_I hope you know the way to my Wing, it would be much appreciated if you were to bring your companions to dine with._

_I hope Reido—the servant—wasn’t_ too _forceful, he tends to do that._

_Ren Hakuto._

“So we’re going?” Ja’far and Hinahoho read the not from over his shoulder.

“Well...” Sinbad grinned, “there’s nothing better to do!”

* * *

“ _‘Nothing better to do’_ he said,” Ja’far started, “ _I_ can think of something better to do, how about... NOT GETTING LOST?!” The Parthevian winced as his younger companion exploded.

“I’m not lost! I simply... forgot whether to turn left or right!”

“That’s called getting lost, shithead!”

“Arghhh shut up!”

“Maybe if you remembered the right way!”

“Okay, okay,” Hinahoho grabbed the two by their collars and lifted them from where they were nearing each other, nose practically touching. “We’ll just ask for direc—”

“Oh? That giant body and blue hair... if it isn’t Sir Hinahoho!”

Hakuren’s voice interrupted the Imuchakk’s sentence. The Second Prince was walking towards them, “why are you guys doing here? Shouldn’t you have gotten to the Wolf Wing by now?”

“Ah, Prince Hakuren!” The relief in Hinahoho’s voic was evident. “We we’re headed there, but Sinbad got lost, do you mind telling us where we are?”

The Prince laughed, “You’re walking in the opposite direction, this Wing is the Rat Wing, my Wing, the Wolf Wing is the other direction.”

“I _told_ you we should’ve gone right!”

“Well it’s not _my_ fault there aren’t signs telling us where to go!”

Hinahoho sighed as he resigned himself to his role of peacekeeper, following Hakuren, who told them he was headed for the Wolf Wing himself.

* * *

“Ah! There they are! I was getting worried that they got lost!” Hakuto came forward and greeted his guests, sending Hakuren ahead as he gave them a small tour.

“Yeah, we weren’t lost...”

Hakuren laughed as he moved pass Hakuto, “found them in the Rat Wing!”

Hakuto raised an eyebrow, “oh? The Rat Wing?”

Clearing his throat, Sinbad continues, “let’s not talk about that, the tour?”

“Right! This way please...”

* * *

_“What are these purple flowers?”_

_“Ah! Those are Aconitum, flowers I have specially imported from Reim many years ago and continued cultivating and cross breeding.”_

_“Are they that special?”_

_“You’ll find out soon.”_

* * *

The morning of the beginning of the trek to Hoan was windy. Sinbad, Ja’far and Hinahoho were readying their horses, the Princes having already prepared theirs a few hours earlier.

Hakuryuu and Hakuei were seeing them off along with their parents and the Princes’ cousins, Kouen and Koumei.

Hakuryuu was clutching on to Hakuyuu’s pant legs and the older was trying to make him let go.

Hakuto was bearing the last farewells to his cousins as he was closer to their age then his brothers are, and Hakuren was hugging Hakuei in his fifth death grip, Hakuei hugging him right back.

Sinbad ties the last bag of supplies to the brown horse before swinging his leg over it, Ja’far and Hinahoho doing the same. (How they found a horse Hinahoho’s size? Sinbad would never know.)

With light hearts and warmed smiles, the group of six began their journey to the twentieth dungeon, Purson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Wings are based off the Chinese Zodiac, some animals are more wild ones(I.E. Wolf instead of Dog), the wings are arranged in a circle, going Clockwise, Rat as the first and Boar as last, so their right next to each other. 
> 
> Shangdi is a god in Chinese legends.
> 
> Do comment and kudos!
> 
> What’s a fiercer way to say rat?


	3. The Third Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the next few chapters, In order for us to learn more about our Protagonist, I'm gonna be dropping one fact every chapter!
> 
> Hakuto's favorite line is: "I'm just honest," or something along that line!

"Shit!" Hakuren cursed as he was bitten once again by a rabbit. "I swear to Shangdi, if I get bitten one more time— _ow!_ "

It's only been an hour since they got into the dungeon—for them at least, Hakuto isn't sure about the outside—and they were being assaulted by the third rabbit... pack? Flock? _What do you call groups of rabbits?_

" _That's it!_ I'm signing an imperial order to rid the country of rabbits, I don't care if their a sacred animal or whatever, they're dead to me!" Hakuren wailed loudly as yet _another_ rabbit chomped on his finger.

"But they're Hakuei's favorite animal, are you gonna get rid of Tsuki and Taiyo too?" Hakuto chimes in, smirking at Hakuren's sudden torn face.

"Gahhhh I hate this!" Grabbing his sword, he mercilessly chopped the rabbit and proceeded to stomp on the mammal.

The land they were teleported to wasn't as magical as the one Sinbad had described was in Baal, instead it looked like they stepped from a city to a forest, Hakuto was starting to wonder if Sinbad had exaggerated a _tad_ too much when he described the inside of a dungeon.

Ja'far finally couldn't stand Hakuren's loud yells and snapped, "Shut up Goddammit! It's just rabbits, it doesn't even hurt that much ya wimp!"

"..." Hinahoho and Sinbad stared at their companion in shock, Ja'far realized what he did and paled.

" _U...Uh I mean..."_

Hakuto bursted out into loud laugher and Hakuyuu chuckled, their expressions much more different then any they had showed in the Royal Palace, more open.

"Hahahaha, Hakuren you just got _told_ by someone four years younger then you!"

"S-Shut up!" The Second Prince blushes a deep red, "it's not funny, it's _not_!"

"Wow, they're a lot more open when their in the dungeon." Hinahoho commented. "Well, it's to be expected, it's certain that no spies could be in a dungeon after all."

The trio watched as two brothers laughed at the expense of the third.

That's right.

Here in the dungeon, everyone is equal. There is no royalty or slave, all who enter are men who seek power, and all that will leave are those who achieved it.

The dungeons' magic are known to be mystical, miraculous, but it can also do very simple things.

Like turning three hardened princes into laughing brothers.

_It may be only temporary,_ Sinbad thought, _but this is pretty nice._

* * *

After a long walk, the group ended up in front of a gate.

"Is this it?" Hakuren asked, seemingly confused by how simple the journey had been. "Seems too easy, it was literally a walk in the park."

"Yeah," Sinbad said, "this is too easy, both Baal and Valefor was much harder."

**_"Now now, don't compare me to those two wimps!"_ **

The group tended as a glow shined the gates and a figure emerged in front of it. Skin a dark blue and a hair of light turquoise, Purson's chest was bare and his shoulders were covered with thick fur. Body resembling a bear's with great horns curled at the top, his only piece of clothing is a cape on his back and a fur piece tied to his waist.

**"Welcome!"** Spreading his hands, he gestured around him, **"to the twentieth dungeon, I am Purson, the Djinn of Savagery and Warfare! Who here desires to be king? Step up now!"**

Hakuren and Hakuyuu stepped up easily, Hakuto hestated a second before stepping forward also.

**"Hmm? What's this? Another one of you desires to be King, but won't step up, what's more, one of the ones who stepped up feel no desire to be king? How interesting..."**

Hakuto shook, he couldn't stand it, "Alright! I know Sinbad has a desire to become king and although Father does not want him to capture this dungeon, I... have no desire to become king!"

"Hakuto..." Hakuren's shock was impossible to hide, Hakuyuu, however, looked like he expected it, his expression was one of those _'I knew it'_ look to it.

"B-But why?! Hakuto... this, this doesn't make sense!" Hakuren's frantic sputtering was the only sound after the Third Princes' announcement.

"I... apologize, Brother Hakuren, for not meeting your's or Father's expectations but... I do not want to... become a king, let alone capture a djinn. I believe it will be better if Sinbad takes my place as a candidate."

**_"_ Perfect," **The Djinn clapped his hands together, before the humans could speak, he continued his speech, **"I know what your trial will be! There are three Kings and three Subordinates! The Kings will race to the center. Here's the catch, I'll randomly teleport the subordinates around, sometimes you'll have no subordinates, sometimes you'll have all three! Good luck, this test is to see if you are willing to adapt to your situation depending on what assets and people you can work with. Pretty clear? Now get to it!"** Clapping his hands, he teleported the group into a maze, separating the six into three groups of two.

* * *

"Ow!" Hakuren looked around, everywhere he looks, there's a tree. "Fuck!" Next to him, another body crashed to the grassy floor, a very tiny body.

Ja'far sits up from his drop, he saw Prince Hakuren next to him, hair messed up by leaves and branches. Quickly setting up, the twelve year old stuttered, "A-Ah! Prince Hakuren, err, it seems th two of us were paired up for the beginning?"

The Prince scratched his head and grinned, "Yeah! We never interacted but I hope we get along, uhhh... Jalam?"

"Ja'far."

"Err, right! I hope we get along, Ja'far!"

"...yeah."

* * *

Hakuto grunted as he hit the soft, leafy grounds of the forest, next to him, Sinbad wasn't as lucky, getting dropped into a tree branch. "Ack!" The Company President choked as he clapped his chest, desperate to get the acorn that got stuck in his throat out.

"Ah! Sin-san, let me help!" The Prince rushes towards his current assigned King, patting his back, Sinbad coughed a few more times before he gulped.

"Ah... I think I swallowed it."

"...as expected of Sin-san."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing. I'm just somehow unsurprised by your occasional stupidity."

"Stop being so blunt!"

"It's called being honest."

"Gahhhh! This sucks!"

* * *

"Ah..." Hinahoho stared at the Crown Prince in front of him. What was he supposed to do? This was the guy he interacted with the _least_ out of the entire group. _Dammit I just_ had _to roll the bad dice._

Hakuyuu nodded his head in respect, "it is a pleasure to work with a warrior from the famed Imuchakk tribe." His voice was stiff, Hinahoho realized, _must've felt as surprised as I am, huh?_

"Ahaha, yeah! Let's work together, Prince Hakuyuu!"

* * *

"So," Sinbad began, "what made you step down as a candidate?"

Next to him, Hakuto remained silent, fists clenched and eyes on the ground they were walking on.

Sinbad shrugged, "it's fine if you don't answer, I'm just curious."

The duo continued their walk in silence, it wasn't long before they came upon their first trial, a pack of Snow White wolves were growling at a pitch black one, the black wolf barked at the pack and the giant wolf at the front—likely the alpha—snarled and the pack pounced, before the first wolf could attempt to bite the young, black wolf, a arrow pierced the roof of its jaw and through it's brain, killing it instantly.

Sinbad turned to look at Hakuto, who was holding up his bow, arms still outstretched as he went to grab another arrow. "I... dislike separation by color." Was his reply to the look the older teen had given him, although he didn't bother turning to look at him.

The wolves immediately turned on them as they slowly came to term with what was about to happen to them. Paling rapidly, the two quickly turned as the pack charged, the black wolf completely forgotten in the face of a new, more dangerous enemy.

"Shit!" Sinbad cursed, slicing at a wolf with his sword, "their fur is so hard!" The teen next to him opened up another two wolves' chests with another arrow. "How'd you shoot through them so easily?!"

"I simply trained in Magoi Manipulation with the help of the Yambala tribe."

"Hah?! Whatever, let's kill these things _Baal!"_ Pointing his sword at the pack, he pumped Magoi into his sword,

**_'BARARAQ SAIQA!'_ **

The electric energy zapped through the wolves, leaving nothing but ashes behind. Hakuto stared at Sinbad, in shock of the power the Djinn can provide.

**"Oh?"** A voice sounded inside the forest, **"you wield Baal? I remember that stuck-up, no wonder he would choose a King with as much potential as you."**

"What do you mean?" Sinbad asked the voice—he was pretty sure it was Purson.

**"Hmph. Did you really think my trial would be as simple as a maze? How boring that would be! Of course, the winner of the race _would_ get my powers, but the true trial begins now! As I am speaking to you, clones are speaking to the other two groups, I paired you up with those you know the least, convince them you deserve this power! This trial is all on your subordinates!"**

" _What?!_ Are you implying that I can be convinced to betray my Country and believe another person worthy of King?"

**"Of course not, just because you believe someone deserves the power doesn't mean that you'll suddenly become loyal to them, even if you don't want them to become King, a _true_ King would be able to gain acknowledgement from even subordinates of other people, _that_ is what I want to see! Convince them with your ideals as King! Whoever convinced first, leaves first, giving you an official head start to the actual race!"**

"Purson," the voice of Sinbad rang loud throughout the clearing, "we just need to convince them? That's it?"

**"Hah! Of course not! I won't accept a weak King, even if you convince them first, if you don't finish the race first, you still lose!"**

"I see..." Sinbad immediately turned around to Hakuto, "Hakuto! What is your view on the world?"

"Huh? The world?" The Prince jumped at the sudden question, "the world... is a great place, many ideals and beliefs and cultures can be found in many different places... but that also makes it an ugly place, war breaks out because those beliefs and ideals clash, the world... is always changing."

"And that's it! The world is changing! But is it changing the right way? The right direction? The right speed?" Sinbad answered Hakuto's inquiring look with his rapid words, "that's what I'm doing! I don't believe the world is changing fast enough, everyday, war is being fought, I want to stop that, I'll create a world without war!"

"A world without war?" Hakuto said quietly, "is that really good? War is a sign that you are not surrendering, it is a indication that you will not be a plaything. I know of your Country, Sinbad, Parthevia is a country that fights war to gain, not protect, _that_ is the war you are trying to stop, but if a tribe of people fought a war to fight off slavers, then that war is to protect, if your world without war takes away that option, would the Tribes simply be taken in as slaves? No. They'll fight back, _that_ would be much messier than a war."

"That..." Sinbad swallowed, "that may be true, but what if the world was built on another foundation, on trade!"

"Trade?" Hakuto's face twisted into one of confusion.

"That's right!" Sinbad's expression was bright, it drew him in, "trade! Another way to fight war, but much less bloodshed!"

"How will all the countries follow your rules? They could simply rebel."

"That's easy! I'll create a country, with my Metal Vessels, I'll use the country as a backing of to the trade policies!"

"Oh? You will use your Djinn to threaten people? What will you do with the wrongdoers? Throw them into the dungeons?"

"Of course not!" Sinbad looked frustrated, "I'll teach them a lesson, have them learn of the results of their own wrongdoings!"

"That doesn't matter! As long as even one wrongdoer exists, they'll simply drag down more with them as they sink even farther!"

"How can you say that? Have faith in the world, in me!" Sinbad's eyes shine even brighter, gold glints as he stared at the man in front of him in determination, "I'll definitely change this world, just you watch, Hakuto! If you don't believe me, why don't you help me?"

"Help... you...?"

**"—alright, that's enough!"** Purson snapped the pair out of their haze, grinning sharply at the two, **"I can sense it, Hakuto has already started to acquiesce his belief to you, even if he doesn't acknowledge it, Sinbad... you pass! You're second—after the other guy."**

"Other guy? Who else finished before me?"

**"You'll find out, I'm gonna start the switcheroo!"**

"Wha-whoa!" Sinbad turned just in time to see Hakuto disappear and in his place, Hinahoho.

"Ow—what now?!" The giant rubbed his head as he slammed it onto a tree trunk at his drop.

"Hinahoho? Is this what the guy meant by teleporting? Where did Hakuto go then?" Sinbad wanted to know the Prince's response to his request, although it was only in the heat of the moment, Sinbad acknowledges the idea as a great one. _After all,_ he thought, _what better way to convince the Emperor than with his own son._

"Ah, Sinbad! Sorry for not holding out long enough." Hinahoho, scratched the back of his head, "It's just, he started talking about family and I..."

"Hey, it's fine Hinahoho, Hakuyuu doesn't seem like a bad person anyways." Sinbad really meant it, one if his companions on this dungeon diving adventure were good people. He could feel it.

"Anyways, let's find a way out of this mess..."

* * *

"Waaaaaahhhh!"

Hakuren and Ja'far looked up to see a human sized lump fall into the lake in front of them. After Ja'far refused to let up on Hakuren's attempt at convincing, Purson had given up and just let them go after the other two teams had a decent enough head start.

"That sounded _really_ familiar..." Hakuren looked at the lake suspiciously, what was that loud scream?

Another splash indicated that whoever fell in managed to get their head above the waters, "It had _better_ sounded familiar, what other younger do you _have_ in this dungeon?!" Was heard through the slight fog of the murky waters.

"Wait, _Hakuto?_ "

"Yes, Brother Hakuren, might I suggest you start wearing glasses?"

" _Hey!_ My eyesight isn't that bad!"

"I have my doubts."

" _Stop being so blunt!_ "

"I'm honest, now _can someone help me out here?"_

"Oh right, give me a second..."

* * *

After dragging Hakuto out of the lake—thank god for Ja'far's rope darts—they had continued their little walk-race, running into a flock of angry vultures— _why are there vultures in this forest?—_ as they tried to head towards what they believed was the center.

"Man, these stone walls are no joke, you can't even cut through them!" Hakuren marveled at the skilled craft of the mossy maze walls they had been walking along.

"That's great and all, but those vultures had acid like blood and now all my arrows are ruined," Hakuto complained as he sorted through his inventory, he carried a small hunting knife but he doubt it'll do any real good unless he uses Magoi Manipulation.

Before anyone could react, a massive bear jumped through the dense bushes, head rearing and paws up, swinging downwards—straight at Hakuren.

"Watch out—!" Hakuto quickly stood as his brother blocked the bear's powerful swipe with is sword, throwing his Magoi-filled knife at its chest as Hakuren slid back from the impact.

The knife struck the bear's side as it turned to Ja'far.

_Damn it missed a vital point._

Ja'far jumped back as the bear attempted to snap its head at the boy, throwing his rope-darts at the giant mammal, cursing when it failed to pierce skin.

Hakuto ran forward and used his bow to block the bear's second attempt to strike, Hakuren jumping onto the bear's back as he tried to restrain it, "Ja'far, _now!_ "

"Fuck this shit, die stupid bear! _Household Vessel: Bararaq Sei!"_

The darts shined a brilliant blue before Ja'far wrapped one around the bear's snout that was getting dangerously close to Hakuto's face, and the other pierced it's chest, cutting the insides as the giant bear fell forward, Hakuto jumping nimbly out of it's way.

"That was close," Hakuto winced as he looked at the dents and marks on the metal of his bow, that's gonna need a trip to the blacksmith for repair.

Hakuren's slightly flushed face grinned in ecstasy—he hadn't had this much fun in _ages_! "Yeah," he took a breathe to calm down, "it was real fun!"

Ja'far wipes some sweat off his face, the three of them all had scratch marks and sweat on their bodies, "Let's continue, I don't want to see what else this forest can offer."

Before they could take another step, both Ja'far and Hakuto felt a tug underneath them, and the last thing they saw was Hakuto's surprised face as they were teleported away.

* * *

"That stupid Djinn! Where are we _now?_ "

Both Hakuto and Ja'far found themselves teleported onto Hinahoho, the Imuchakk letting out a surprised yelp at the sudden extra weight on his back.

Sinbad looked in surprise at his new companions. "Why are all three of you here?"

Hakuto groaned, "I'm starting to feel sick of all this teleporting, I shouldn't have stepped down as king, at least then I wouldn't be experiencing severe motion sickness from an insane amount of teleporting."

Sinbad sweat dropped at Hakuto's surprisingly dramatic complaint. _I thought Hakuren was the dramatic one..._

"By the way, where are we?" Ja'far looked around, they were in a dark cave, slightly damp from what seemed to be dew drops on top of them.

"Oh yeah, after Hakuto got teleported away," Sinbad scratched the back of his neck, "a flock of crazy rabbits chased us so we ran in here."

" _Seriously,_ rabbits?" Ja'far looked exasperated, "where's your manliness? Your scared of this things?"

"No, you don't get it, those things are _crazy._ "

Hinahoho nodded in agreement, shivering at the thought of the little critters.

Ja'far scoffed as Hakuto gave them a skeptical look, "they can't be _that_ bad—"

He never finished the sentence as a ferocious hiss interrupted him.

All of them turned, eyes glinting red with madness stared at them through the darkness, and as one, they gulped.

The eyes multiplied by dozens as pairs upon pairs of red glares stared at them. As one, the rabbits charged.

"AHHHHHH!" And as one, the humans screamed, freaked out by the army of furry, buck-teethed monsters climbed upon them, their size that of half a man.

"Purson teleport me somewhere else dammit!" Hakuto cried as he smacked away another rabbit with his bow (had it not been dented by the bear, it would've been sharp enough to cut through them, but it _was_ dented by the bear so, whatever).

"Less talking more fighting!" Hinahoho was getting buried under the sheer amount of rabbits pouncing onto him. He waved his red harpoon around, catching two or three rabbits with it at a time, it doesn't really matter because more jumps to take the place of those forced away.

Before the situation could get any worse, a howl caused all those in the cave to freeze. Glowing yellow slits stared at the group as a pitch black wolf growled at the people in front of him.

The rabbits needed no encouragement: they fled without hesitation, scrambling for the wide entrance they came in from.

The canine them stalked towards the frozen humans, eyes sparking with intensity. It seems to be studying them?

"H-Hey, doesn't he look familiar?" Hakuto asked the group, the Wolf looks slightly recognizable.

"What are you talking about?!" Ja'far hissed harshly at the Prince. It seemed, that at the face of danger, he had reverted back to his rude, assassin self.

"Wait a minute... he does! That's the Wolf we saved from its pack!" Sinbad started as he remembered the wolf that was ostracized by the other wolves because of his pitch black fur.

Just as they have recognized it, the Wolf seemed to find the two familiar. It's ears perked up and eyes widened, raising it's head to sniff the air before lolling its tongue out as it remembered its saviors.

"Alright! We're saved!" Sinbad pumped his fists as Hakuto bent down to rub behind the Wolf's ears.

"Thank you for saving us," The Prince smiled gently at his new friend, "Kiba, may your fangs forever protect you from the terrors of reality."

The wolf howled again, scaring off what remaining critter was still in the perimeter of a few meters, he accepted his new name, his first name, just like how human babies do when they are first born.

Just like how Hakuto did when he was named after his Father.

* * *

Hakuyuu hummed a tune as he walked through the thick bushes and heavy canopies. It was a old tune, one he remembered Mother humming to him and him singing to his brothers. He never got the chance with Hakuryuu and Hakuei because of his constant warring.

He really hope to be able to once Purson's power was employed to end this long overdue victory on the bloody battlefield.

Hakuyuu has found himself companion-less after Sir Hinahoho had been teleported away—he figured he was to face his trials alone after he successfully calmed a hive of bees as they tried to sting him full of warts.

—which was why he was surprised when he was full-on tackled from behind by his Younger Brother.

"What the heck, Purson!" Hakuto yelled aloud, "why do you keep teleporting _me_?"

Hakuyuu gave a bemused smile, "oh? Perhaps he was upset that you backed out of his challenge?"

Hakuto grumbled, "he was the one who pressured me to anyways." Crossing his arms, he looked every bit like a spoiled child.

Hakuyuu laughed, "you had no desire to become a King anyways," he patted the younger Ren on the head.

"Of course not! Following orders is easier if you ask me, especially if whoever the actual King is, is wise!" Hakuto frowned as he glanced at his Brother's arms, "are you okay, Brother? You look pretty scratched up..."

"This? This is just like you said, a scratch. I'll be fine." He reached up to accept his Brother's hand as he stood up.

"So... care to explain how you tackled me when Purson teleported you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, ok, this chapter is pretty choppy and all over the place, I know. The POV and setting keeps jumping because of Purson's trial. Anyways, before anything, does anyone have ideas for pairings? I've got an idea and if no one suggests anything different... then I'll go with it. Of course, Romance isn't a main genre and any I add will probably be pretty background-ish. You guys can also suggest no Romance, that'll be fine too—especially since romance isn't required for the plot. I might move forward some stuff(*cough* Palace Fire *cough*) for the plot but... yeah. I would also take suggestions for the Household Vessel and the Djinn Hakuto will contract with since he will not have a metal vessel, but he will end up becoming one of Sinbad's households, just depends on which: I'm leaning towards either Baal or Valefor.
> 
> About the Sinbad convincing speech, I’m not that confident of whether or not the scene made sense, I thought it did, but any and all suggestions to improve it will be very much appreciated!


	4. The Fourth Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun times y'all! Good day, I hope your ready for this chapter! It's falls slightly short so I added a Omake at the end to make up for that.
> 
> The stones are all searched up and stuff. I did a lot of research in order to write this chapter, stuff on Aconitum and stones. I don't wanna spoil too much so read ahead!
> 
> Fact: Hakuto does not like to eat lobster but enjoys oyster

_"The boy is talented my King."_

_"Really? Do expand on your claim, Teacher Feng."_

_"He has already mastered the basics of the sword! He will grow to be both powerful and successful, that I can guarantee."_

_"Ha! He is my son, there was never any question on whether he would become powerful."_

_"Yes... he seemed done with the sword, however..."_

_"Done?"_

_"Yes, he seemed to express much interest in the bow."_

_"Oh? Then teach it to him."_

_"Yes, but what of short ranged fights? He can't fight blades with a bow, my lord!"_

_"Then teach him both!"_

* * *

**_Splat!_ **

Blood spilled all over the floor as the spear pierced through the head of yet another wolf.

"You're getting pretty good at using that, Hakuto." Hakuyuu complimented his brother's skills with his makeshift spear.

"Heh, don't underestimate me, I bugged Teacher Feng to teach me another bladed weapon after I mastered the sword," smirking, Hakuto swung the knife-on-stick he made and successfully cleaved the snowy white canine in half with the help of Magoi Manipulation.

"Dear brother," Hakuyuu sighed, "surely you are not inferring that the art of the swords is so easily mastered?" As it to prove a point, he proceeds to stab a wolf through the mouth _without_ Magoi Manipulation.

"Of course not Brother, I am simply saying that swordsmanship is not my... _calling_ as some would put it," the Thrid Prince glanced up at the small bat sitting on the tree, "I'm sure this satisfies you, Purson? I see the gates there."

The bat seemed to smirk before disappearing into dust, Hakuto looked towards his brother, "How should we proceed, Brother Hakuyuu?"

"That's a easy answer, forward." The answer he gave matched his steps as Hakuyuu led the way toward the great gates at the end of the maze.

Knocking loudly, the Crown Heir yelled loudly, "Purson! I have reached the end of the maze, let us in!"

The door was silent, before a loud, booming laugh shook the entirety of the dungeon.

**"Indeed you did! Very well, come in to my treasure room, King Candidate, I would love to _really_ get a proper look at my future Vessel."**

Nodding at his brother, Hakuto urged Hakuyuu forward as he places his hand on the door, taking a deep breath, he declared, **_"Open Sesame!"_**

The golden doors swung open with a loud groan. Inside, they saw a winged figure, it resembled a bat, large ears and fanged teeth doing nothing to make the Djinn appear fiercer. The fluffy hair and round eyes simply made him even cuter.

As if he could tell they were judging him, Purson ruffled his blue fur, **"Hmph, I am the twentieth Djinn, Purson, the others you met in this dungeon are all my creations."**

"That's odd," Hakuto pointed out, "I thought you were the giant man at the beginning, he looked tougher than you do."

Purson glared at him, **"Hmph, Djinns are not allowed to leave their treasury, _and I'm plenty tough, thank you very much!"_**

"Well, not really to me, you look like a bat..."

**"That's cause I _am_ part bat you blind fool!"**

Before Hakuto could continue, Sinbad ran through the trees with Ja'far at his tail, "what the heck? There's a snake chasing me!"

Purson raise his hand and turned said snake into dust, sighing at the death of one of his creations.

**"Whatever, let's just get this over with, where's the last group?"**

As if summoned by his call, Hakuren and Hinahoho busted out of the bushes, wet as a fish. "Are we finally there? Why was the last course a friggin' river?!"

**"Ah, finally! It seems all of you have arrived, I'll go ahead and make my judgement! So y'all better shut up and listen!"**

_Such haughtiness..._ everyone thought as Purson sat up and folded his wings.

**"Ahem! The one I choose as King is... you!"** He pointed at Hakuyuu and the First Prince stared at the djinn. At the silence that followed, the Djinn wildly turned his head in their direction.

**"Wha—? Why's no one surprised?! The choosing of a King is supposed to be full of shouts of glee and surprise!"**

"You... sort of told us that you'll choose whoever gets to the center first though..." Hakuto pointed out what was in everyone's mind.

  
**"Gah! Whatever! Just get whatever gold you want and leave! You've got ten minutes!"**

Everyone scrambled to get what they wanted and needed, before stepping into the ray of light streaming down from the ceiling.

* * *

"The Palace."

Sinbad almost didn't hear Hakuto's small, quiet voice. "Huh?"

"You asked why I didn't want to be King. I didn't want to stay in the Palace." Hakuto told Sinbad, the two of them were stuck together because, as a last ditch effort to play them, the djinn has teleported them with the same person they were originally stuck with in the maze.

"What about the Palace? Why not? It looks pretty great!"

"Yes, it was..." he stopped, eyes slightly glazed, like he was looking at a far off memory. Sinbad stared at him, _what could he be reminiscing about?_

The Prince's eyes suddenly sharpened, "it was... until my mother brought in the priests."

"The priests?"

"Yes, they were brought in to the palace, and not that much later, the war started." He paused again, before shaking his head, "there was a lot of bloodshed, Father wanted me to get used to it because that's what I would be growing up with, I want to make sure Hakuryuu and Hakuei don't need to experience that."

"That's a noble thought, but what's up with the palace?"

"Ever since the Priests were brought in, the air around the Palace felt...off. A underlying pressure of _darkness_ and _hate._ Brother Hakuren and Hakuyuu also felt it, but they were convinced that it was just their own paranoia from the war. Hakuryuu and Hakuei were born _after_ they came to the Palace, so they don't understand it."

"You...don't like the Palace because the Priests bring a bad air around them?"

"It's... not just that, the 'bad air,' also effects the nobles, they're more... bitter, I'm afraid of it affecting the family, Father, or even _me._ The war is to end soon, and once it does, the amount of time I spent outside of the Palace would be less, if I had conquered the dungeon, I would have no doubt that the nobles would be hounding at me for favors. As selfish as it sounds, part of me is glad that Brother Hakuyuu got Purson, it would lead the attention away from Brother Hakuren and I."

"That's not wrong! If you feel uncomfortable, you should let them help! That's what big brothers do!"

"...yeah."

Gold flashed at the corner of his eyes, _fate is guiding me,_ this was part of his destiny! Sinbad saw the chance, stretching his arms out, he took it.

"If you don't want to stay in the Palace, my offer's always open!"

"Offer...?"

"Yeah! Come travel with me! As a... I don't know, an ambassador! Yeah, to keep an eye on me, and also do that the courts won't complain! 'Cuz if the Prince is part of the Company, the Nobles wouldn't kick up as much a fuss, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I'll speak to Father about this." Hakuto gave him a weak smile, if Sinbad hadn't seen the renewed determination in his eyes, he might've believed that Hakuto gave up, but the truth was far from it.

The truth was that he had found hope.

* * *

"No one else is here yet?" Sinbad looked around and found that they were the only ones in the area.

Before they could think more of it, the sound of horses forced them to look forward. What greeted them was a trio of soldiers bearing the flag of Gou. In the center of them was the Minister of Hoan, Pan Tu.

The old man smirked cockily at the two in the pit, "Prince Hakuto! This would not do, you were never supposed to return from the dungeon, I even had the men seal up the entrance!"

"Minister Pan, what is the meaning of this?" Hakuto glared coldly at the flags waving in the air, the yellow mark of Gou flowing wildly against the wind. "You are saving the flag of Gou? Are you declaring your allegiance to an enemy?"

"Of course not, _your highness,_ I am simply seeing my plans of months coming to fruition!"

"Oh? You have been a spy for that long?"

"Spy? I am no spy!" The man has the gall to look scandalized. "This is for the benefits of my new concubine building, ever since the dungeon was raised people flock to my city like bees, leaving no room for my new building to be built! Gou approached me and offered me land to build on if I bring in the heads of the Royal Family!"

"You want my head?" Hakuto learned casually on the wooden stick of his extended knife, eyebrows raised, and despite his easy smile, his eyes were cold.

"That's right, and I'm going to get it! Guards!"

Three soldiers moved forward and as fast as ever, Hakuto threw his makeshift spear, Magoi Manipulation applied, and easily speared two before the third dodged the attack, the knife only nicking his cheek.

"Hah! How foolish of you, to throw away your weapon!" The soldier laughs at the Prince whom he had deemed a fool, before he froze up and started choking, grappling his throat before he too, fell to the ground.

"W-What is this trickery?!" Minister Pan yelled out in rage at his three personal guards dropping dead.

"Hmm? Have you never heard of the Aconitum Flower, Minister? They are quite well known for their poisonous roots, at least their nick name is." Hakuto brought up a glass vial he carried on his person. "They are also known as Wolf's Bane—quite ironic seeing as I grow them in the Wolf Wing, no?"

"Y-you... this is an underhanded tactic, how dishonorable!" Hakuto didn't believe the Minister's face could get redder than it is now.

"Dishonorable?" Hakuto's face darkened as his voice turned serious, "there is no one here more dishonorable than you, _Minister._ To have sold out not just your Emperor, but also your _country_ to the enemy is treason, that's why, I, Ren Hakuto, Third Son of Emperor Hakutoku and Imperial Prince of Kou, sentence you to death!"

He walked up to the man who had started trembling after the death of his soldiers, grabbing his spear on the way, "Wait! I-I'll give you intel on Gou! I swear! Spare me!"

Hakuto cocked his head, "You swear? You had not only betrayed Kou, you even betrayed Gou too! What's there to say about your trustworthiness? Last minute attempts at begging for your life is pitiful! The sooner this war ends, the sooner my siblings will live a peaceful life, I cannot afford to have fake intel when our path to victory has been carved so smoothly," calmly raising his spear, Hakuto eyed the traitor with a disinterested gaze, "Sin-san, please do turn away, I hope your image of Kou is not tarnished by such a dishonorable act of betrayal."

Sinbad turned his head away as the Minister's begging turned more desperate before a loud scream sounded and a unnerving silence followed. _So this is what a war to protect do to people..._

Before anything more could be said, another beam was shot and Hakuren and Ja'far came tumbling out of it, gripping at each other's hair and face, looking quite ridiculous with their size difference.

"I told you Brother Yuu would win against that Sinbad brat!"

"Hah? Are you blind? Sin would _crush_ him!"

"Now, now, while I am honored by your faith in me, Ja'far, I really don't want to fight a ally," Sinbad cut in between the two, glad to have a reason to ignore the previous deed. While killing wasn't new to him—many people had died in the dungeon quest, after all—seeing someone he considered his friend do it _did_ shake him up a bit, not that Hakuto's reasons weren't justified, it's just... not something he was used to.

"Sin! This bastard clearly can't count! You have _two_ djinns and Hakuyuu only has _one._ "

Ah. It seemed Ja'far had completely forgotten that Hakuren was a Prince and reverted back to his assassin self. _Rurumu would've killed him._

"And I plan on only keeping it to one."

Hakuyuu's calm presence surprised everyone, Hinahoho waving at everyone beside him.

" _What?!_ Only one? Brother Yuu!" Hakuren protested at Hakuyuu's claim.

"Yuu?" Sinbad questioned the nickname, finding it odd that Hakuren had suddenly started using it.

"Brother Hakuren finds it amusing to use nicknames, since he claims that, 'adding "Haku" is too much work.'" Hakuto answered Sinbad's unanswered question.

"Heh~ I see, that makes sense, can I call you To then?"

"You can refer to me as you wish, Sin-san."

"Hmmm, well you _are_ calling me by a nickname, hope we get along, _To~_ "

"...yes, Sin-san."

* * *

"Hmm... I see, good job, Hakuyuu, your metal vessel well be a great service to Kou." The Emperor have his son a proud stare, "as for the betrayal of Pan Tu..."

Hakutoku turned to his third son, "although it is worrisome, it is not something to dwell upon, especially with the acquisition of Purson, you did a good job executing the traitor, Hakuto."

"Of course, Father." The Prince's voice had returned to its stiff tone, Hakuto bowed before taking a step back in order for his Father to bring his attention to Sinbad.

"Ah, yes, Sinbad."

The young President straightened up and looked at the Emperor, "yes, Emperor?"

"You have completed your task, I thank you for your service to Kou, as a reward, I shall honor our agreement and sign that trade deal with you, Kou well officially be supporting the Sindria Trading Company!"

Immediately after the announcement, the Throne Room erupted in noise, with multiple nobles protesting against such a decision.

"Silence! With the acquisition of Purson, our victory is no doubt guaranteed, especially since we had already pushed back both Kai and Gou into a corner, by opening trade with the rest of the world, we will lead Kou through a road of recovery after such a long war." The Enperor's demand was solid, his tone leaving no room for anymore complaints to the nobles.

But it was only the nobles.

"Brother! Reconsider your choice! Kou has always been a Country that does not trade with any place _not_ associated to Kou—you yourself stated that!" Prince Koutoku's argument was sound, many nobles nodding and muttering their agreements.

The Emperor shook his head, "indeed, it is against tradition—however! It is also against tradition to wage war, for Kou had always been a merchant country, _now_ look at us! Are we not breaking tradition this second by wielding swords instead of hoes?"

Before the nobles or Koutoku could continue their argument, Hakuto stepped up, clasping his hands together, he knelt on one knee and bowed his head, "Great Emperor, forgive me for this intrusion, but may I offer a solution?"

Interested, as his son almost never spoke up during a meeting, he nodded silently.

"I thank you, Emperor," Hakuto lifted his head and spoke loudly, confidently, "if the problem Prince Koutoku and the honored Ministers are unsettled about is the fact that no one in Sinbad-dono's company is of Kou descent, I suggest we give them one."

Many heads turned in confusion, many of them, big not Sinbad's.

"Oh? Give them one?" Hakutoku urged his son to continue his speech.

"Yes," the young Prince nodded, "someone who is trustworthy enough to act as a delegate for this agreement."

"Hm? Who would you suggest then, Hakuto?" Even as he asked this question, the amused spark in his Father's eyes told him that he knows the answer.

"I believe the best candidate is myself, for the following reason: the person sent has to be someone that President Sinbad approves of, seeing as we had adventured a dungeon together, I believe I had earned both his trust, and that of his companions," he turned to look at Ja'far and Hinahoho, both of which gave him a nod despite their confusion.

"Additionally, Sinbad-dono himself has also invited me to travel with him, and seeing as both my Elder Brothers are too busy with their official positions and Kouen can take my position of General Hakuyuu's Left Hand, I believe that this arrangement is best for Kou."

"Hmmm... a good proposal, as expected of my son," the pride in Hakutoku's voice was impossible to miss, "I believe that my son's proposal is sufficient, is it not?"

Some officials grumbled, but most nodded their heads with grudging satisfaction, even Koutoku did not speak up.

"Very well, your request has been granted, Sinbad, but only if you agree to allow Hakuto to act as the delegate of Kou."

Sinbad nodded, ecstatic about the fact that he obtained a new companion and sponsor. "Yes! Of course, thank you, your majesty!"

* * *

With the end of the deals, came the awards for their efforts.

Emperor Hakutoku had supplied Sinbad with 20 rolls of premium silk to trade along with many tons of spices.

"I am giving you many supplies and my Kingdom's best archer, I expect great results, President Sinbad," was what he told him.

As Sinbad had left to prepare his ship, the Three Princes stayed inside the Throne Room.

The Emperor then began a tale of a story not known to many of the younger generation.

"As you may know, before my inauguration as Emperor, the Kou Empire was ruled by three Lords, each represented by a stone, despite the change for Kou to become a Monarchy, we kept the tradition of the three stones, along with me, Generals Ri Seiryuu and Shuu Kokuhyou each recieved one of these stone."

The Emperor waved forward a assistant, who bowed and handed him a wooden carved box, "the Jade, Sapphire and Diamond stones are seen to represent many great things, and as you had conquered a dungeon together, I see it fit to bestow upon you the noble stones as the previous Lords had done to us."

As he brought up his hand to open the box, the Jade ring on his finger seemed to shine bright, along with Ri Seiryuu's Diamond one and Shuu Kokuhyou's Sapphire.

The box opened and in it were three, beautifully carved earrings, they were simple, a smooth cuff, yet the craftsmanship was undeniable. From the expert work to the hard-to-work-with materials, it was clear that the earrings had taken many months—perhaps _years—_ of effort to complete. The Emperor took out the bright, grey earring, the material glinting clear.

"Hakuto, you are a honorable warrior, honest and noble, for that, it is best for you to receive the stone that represents valor, the Diamond."

Hakuto walked forward, kowtowing to his Father before he rose and recieved the earring.

"Hakuren, you are strong, in mind, spirit and body, that is why I believe you should receive the stone of inner strength, the Sapphire."

Hardly able to contain his excitement, Hakuren walked forward and he too kowtowed low in front of his father, smiling widely as he was given the blue earring.

"And Hakuyuu, you led your siblings through this adventure and recieved great power, you will be the Emperor to lead this Country to a much cleaner future than I had, the stone of Purity will be given to you."

Like his Brothers, Hakuyuu also kowtowed at the Emperor's feet, before he recieved the Jade ear loop.

"The future of Kou is the three of you, lead this country to its bright future!"

* * *

**Omake: The Horses**

"Ow!" Sinbad nearly tipped over the side of the horse as he lost balance.

"Sin-san!"

"Sin!"

Both Ja'far and Hakuto looked at the man worriedly as horse whipped his tail at him, annoyed.

"Sinbad... have you never ridden a horse?" Hakuren looked at him weirdly.

"S-Shut up! How are you even staying up, Hinahoho?!" The Young Adventurer directed the attention to the young man who was riding on a gigantic horse.

"Huh? Oh... we ride penguins sometimes in Imuchakk, they tend to grow pretty big, it's not that different—at least balancing isn't." The giant man winced as his sore bottom was once again jostled by the horse's movements. "These guys aren't as fluffy as penguins though."

"Guhhh..."

Has 

**After Capturing Purson:**

"Are you _sure_ you can ride the horse, Sin?" Ja'far's doubtful face was not entirely unjustified as the rest remembered the teen's previous attempt at horseback riding,

"Yeah, I'll be fine!" The man himself seemed to have forgotten all about the event as he finished packing his horse with rations.

"You can always ride with me..."

"Ja'far, I'm telling you it's all good!" Sinbad looked exasperated by his comrade's lack of trust.

"If you say so..."

"Yeah, just watch, hup!" Sinbad heaved himself on the horse. When he managed to stay on successfully, he turned towards Ja'far, triumphantly.

"Hah! See, I told you I'll be fi—whoa!"

"Sin!"

"Sinbad!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the chapter was a bit short so I added a Omake to extend it. Hehe.
> 
> Pan Tu literally means traitor in Chinese cuz I have absolutely no creativity lol.
> 
> Next chapter will be the last of Kou and the beginning to Sasan and we'll be starting on the actual plot.


	5. The Fifth Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fact: Hakuto's teacher, Teacher Feng is related to some Yambala tribe, it's why they visit every few years and how Hakuto learned Magoi Manipulation.

"Hey, Kuto!" Hakuren's loud voice caused Hakuto to pause slightly in his packing.

"Yes, Hakuren?" Now that they are alone, he allowed a small bit of exasperation slip into his tone as he sighed. He turned around and was surprised to see _both_ Hakuren _and_ Hakuyuu in his private chambers. _But I shouldn't be_ , he thought, _since they are_ always _together._

"Hakuto," in contrast to his loud brother, Hakuyuu calmly smiled at the Third Prince.

"Elder Brothers? What are you doing here?" Hakuto moved to clear some space in his room, "sorry for the mess, I'm trying to pack as little as possible."

Hakuren's smile widened, "we've got something for you!" Turning to his older brother, Hakuren's eyes were wide and excited. "Yuu, do you have it?"

Hakuyuu smiled indulgently at Hakuren, "yes, Hakuren, you asked me that on the way here, _five times."_ Which is ridiculous considering Hakuren's wing is right next to Hakuto's.

"Yeah, yeah, details are unimportant," waving off his brother's amusement, he turned to Hakuto, "you'll be blown away by this gift, lil' bro!"

Hakuren's smile was so wide, his face seemed to split in two, it was a rare expression since Hakuto knew that his Brothers tried to keep from being to expressive in the Palace.

"Oh? I can't wait then, Brother Hakuren, you always bring the best gifts."

"You bet!" He snatched the wrapped object from Hakuyuu's hands, "here, open it!"

The hidden object seemed long, it was wrapped in a decorative cloth, but it was obviously expensinve, if the quality of the cloth were any indication.

Taking the long object, Hakuto carefully unwrapped the cloth and his eyes went wide at the sight of his brothers' present.

In his hand was a long _guandao,_ it's pole was a polished red-brown and stretched several meters tall, leading to a well crafted blade, the only decoration a red tuft of wool. The design was simple yet solid, the weapon was light and it fit snugly in Hakuto's hold.

"This...Brothers, this is too much!" After snapping out of his speechlessness, Hakuto proceeded to attempt to shove the _guandao_ back at Hakuren, who was _still grinning._

Laughing, Hakuren dodges nimbly away from Hakuto's hands, "it's a gift! Of course it's a lot!"

Hakuyuu, who was also smiling, although softer, took the _guandao_ and placed it firmly into Hakuto's hands, "take it as an early birthday present from your brothers who wants you to stay safe."

Hakuto's protests quieted after that, "I'll definitely repay this!"

Hakuren wrapped his arms around his neck, "of course! You're going out to the world, you better bring presents. And visit, a lot!"

"Okay, okay! I will!" Hakuto was saved from Hakuren's suffocating grip by Hakuyuu, who grabbed Hakuren and headed towards the door.

"We won't distract you any longer, keep packing!" He called over his shoulder as Hakuren protested against his grip.

Shaking his head, Hakuto continued his packing.

* * *

The Aconitum flowers were truly beautiful.

_It's a shame,_ he thought, _that I will no longer be able to take care of them._

"Thinking about those flowers?" A voice sounded behind him, snapping him out of his thoughts. Hakuto turned around, a woman his age stood tall, hands on her hips and a bemused smile on her face.

"Seirin," Hakuto greeted the woman who had so boldly walked in his Wing.

Ri Seirin was the niece of general Ri Seiryuu, his father's right hand man, she was also the daughter of one of the three great lords who used to rule Kou, Ri Seiryuu's Elder Brother, Ri Seirah. But more than any of that, she was his childhood friend, well, his, Kouen, and Koumei's childhood friend

(Although he was positive that Koumei had a crush on her.)

(It was probably just puppy love.)

(After all, she is betrothed to—)

"Hey Kuto." The woman smiled, "I'm here to fetch you, come on!" Grabbing his arm, Seirin dragged the Prince towards another Wing, not giving him time to protest.

* * *

"Hakuto."

The intense stare of Kouen and Koumei met his, causing Hakuto to sweat.

"Kouen, Koumei." The terse reply did not match the happiness in his eyes. "I haven't seen the two of you since I had left for the dungeon."

"Indeed," Koumei spoke before his brother, waving his fan in his hands, it was a gift from Hakuren, as a joke. "We heard that you are leaving, so we decided to give you a parting gift."

"A... parting gift?" He really hoped it's not another expensive item.

"Yes, we are sure it will be useful." Kouen's blunt tone sounded, his voice slightly high-pitched from his young age.

"I go first!" And before anyone could say anything, Seirin grabbed her gift, headstrong as ever. "Here!" The young lady shoved a bow into Hakuto's hands.

Grinning madly, she said, "I heard your bow got broken so I got a new one for you! It's made of light wood, cause metal is heavy—especially since your gonna be traveling with it!—but the wood is really strong!"

Weighing out the bow, Hakuto found it was indeed very sturdy and light, not what you'll expect from a bow made of wood. His land squeezed the soft leather grip, if felt like horse leather, which is surprising since horses were important working forces for the army so they were rarely ever slaughtered, he had no idea how Seirin had managed to obtain something like this.

Grinning cheekily, Seirin also added, "it will go well with the quiver!"

Hakuto smiled widely at his friend, "thank you, Seirin! It will definitely be used a lot, I'll take care of it!"

"Yes, yes, you saw her gift, now it's time you see ours." Seeing as Koumei was too shy to interrupt Seirin, Kouen casually cut into their conversation and handed Hakuto a metal arm brace.

"Here, this is our present, it'll help you out when your swing your weapons around." Koumei could only nod along to Kouen's words, too busy hiding his face behind his fan—it was really turning out to be useful.

"Kouen..." Hakuto grinned, "thank you! Both of you." He added, turning to Koumei, who just nodded, turning red when Seirin smiled at him.

He slipped on the silver brace and slung the bow over his shoulders, the wooden material brushing against the _guandao_ from his brothers.

It was nearly time to go, and he still needed to say good bye to his younger siblings and mother.

"I need to go, but take care, all of you!"

* * *

"B-Brother..." the first thing that greeted him was Hakuryuu's crying face.

Ah, _It seemed that Mother had told them._

"Hakuryuu, what's wrong?" Kneeling down to Hakuryuu's height, he ruffled the boy's hair.

"Are... Are you really leaving again?"

Hakuto sighed, "...yes."

At those words, Hakuryuu started crying again, grabbing onto Hakuto's shirt as the man hugged his brother and stood up, walking towards Hakuei and Gyokuen.

"Hakuei, Mother." Stopping in front of the two women of the family, he smiled gently at his sister.

Hakuei looked very upset, but she knew that acting on her emotions may not end well, especially in the Palace.

"B-Brother Kuto."

Sighing once again, he opened his arms and Hakuei ran into them, crying next to Hakuryuu, but rather silently. Gyokuen smiled sadly at her three youngest children before speaking up.

"Okay now, Hakuei, Hakuryuu, it is time for you to return to your classes."

Sniffling, the two children started walking away, but not before forcing Hakuto to promise to come back someday.

As the two children left, Hakuto turned towards the Empress.

"Mother, I am about to leave, I wish you and Father the safest of travel as you leave for Kai."

"Oh, Hakuto," Gyokuen started tearing also, she walked forward and pulled her son into a hug, "your Father and I will miss you, as will your siblings, cousins and uncle."

_Yeah right_ , Hakuto would eat his shoes if Koutoku would miss him.

Deep in his thoughts, the young Prince never noticed the flutter of Black Rukh as his mother smirked darkly, her sniffles never quieting.

* * *

"Son."

"Father."

This was probably the most awkward conversation he was ever in, with his confused gaze meeting his father's awkward one, Hakuto couldn't help but wonder why his Father would want to talk to him.

_Didn't he already outline all the conditions of this alliance? What else would he need to speak to me about?_

"Here, take this." Hakutoku handed his son a cage, inside of it's steely bars was a messenger hawk, it looked fast and powerful, rust colored feathers ran down its face and back, white fur from the belly to its golden beak and sharp, yellow eyes. Slim muscles on its wings promised a speedy delivery and sturdy bones on its body guaranteed a safe letter.

Hakuto has never seen this bird in the messenger towers, it was definitely something bought very recently.

"Don't get the wrong idea, this is for your official letters to be sent successfully... although you can use it to message your personal letters too, I guess."

Hakuto refrained from laughing aloud, his Father was really much more different in the courtrooms.

"Yes, Father, I will make sure to message you with him... Jin."

* * *

Kouen's gaze was as sharp as usual. The young soldier who was talking to him glanced between the pair in front of him awkwardly.

"Go on, Sheiran, I'll make sure he gets back to you later." As always, Hakuto was a saving grace to those who's met him.

Heeding the Prince's hidden message— _better leave before Kouen yells—_ Sheiran left the halls of the Palace and fled towards the barracks, leaving Kouen and Hakuto to stare at one another.

"You're leaving."

Hakuto smiled, "it's a diplomatic trip, I'm not going on a suicide mission."

"But you're leaving."

Blunt as ever, but that's why the two of them got along so well, neither believed in mincing their words.

"Yeah, I'm leaving."

"...be safe, my Prince," because despite the respect he held for his elder brothers, Kouen was always the closest with Hakuto, Koumei was the same.

Hakuto grinned, "don't worry, I'll bring back some new interesting materials to add to your library, but only if you take over my position well enough."

Kouen bowed his head, "of course, it's a position I'll take with utmost respect."

"Like you always do, I know you will, you're always so serious, Kouen," Hakuto grabbed onto something on his pack, a golden ornament, it was attached to a red string, simple and sturdy, just like Hakuto, and Kouen also, "I heard Hakuyuu recently gifted you his old sword, as a congratulations to your promotion, take this, it'll serve as a reminder of our promise."

Kouen studies the golden ornament, it'll go well with the hilt of his new sword, he took the offered piece and clasped his hands together, "yes, your highness."

Already used to his formality, Hakuto smiled warmly, clasping his hands in return. Despite his technically higher position, he regarded Kouen as a close comrade, more a brother-in-arms than a cousin or servant.

"I better go change to simpler clothes, it's almost time I take off."

"Of course."

Kouen watched the Prince leave, he glanced down at his hand, tightening his grip on the ornament, he considered the object as not just a reminder of his promise, but also a proof of his conviction and loyalty to the Third Prince. Watching as Hakuto turned the corner, he walked off towards the his personal Tiger Wing, ready to serve in his new position of the left hand of the General.

* * *

Sinbad waved towards Hakuto as he arrived at the port. The Prince's simple outfit strangely fit him better than his Princely robes did, it looked like the man was more in his... element.

He was carrying a new bow and a quiver was on his side, he also had a spear on his back. His light blue tunic was short and simple, tied together by a black obi. Despite the plain look, it was easy to tell that his clothes were made of high quality and easy to move in, something high ranking soldiers would wear under their armor. The only thing on him with any sort of decoration is the silver head piece on his head, a detailed dragon depicted at the front.

The delegate clasped his hand together and bowed, the bird on his shoulder flapping its wings and landed on his head, "I will be joining you in your journey as a representative of Kou's agreement. Let's get along."

Hinahoho laughed loudly, clapping Hakuto on the back as he led him onto the ship, "we already conquered a dungeon together, don't act so formal!"

Smiling lightly, Sinbad nodded when Hakuto turned to him for confirmation. "Hinahoho's right! We're gonna be working towards the same goal from now on, glad to have you aboard, Hakuto!"

Hakuto smiled gently, "I'm glad to be on board, Sin-san."

The red bird squawked as it flew onto the ship.

* * *

It was the fourth day at sea, leaning against the side of the ship, Hakuto closed his eyes and enjoyed the spray.

It was early in the morning and most of the crew was asleep, with the exception of whoever was steering and the cook, who was banging his pots and pans noisily inside the mini canteen under deck.

"Up so early, Hakuto?"

The voice behind him sounded young, younger than him even, and only one person was younger than him on this ship, Hakuto turned around.

His blue eyes met the green of Ja'far's and he nodded, "yes, Ja'far, I couldn't sleep with the constant swaying the boat brings."

Ja'far nodded sympathetically, "yeah, you get used to it after a week."

Hakuto nodded silently, "what about you, Ja'far, why are you up so early?" He asked the young boy.

The ex-assassin shrugged, "I'm used to waking up early," was his curt response.

Hakuto turned back towards the ocean and stopped asking questions, a few seconds later, Ja'far joined him at watching the peaceful waves.

Everything was nice and quiet, until a loud screech woke up everyone on the ship.

_That sounded like—_ "Jin?!"

Hakuto rushes towards his room, Ja'far following close behind, what they found in his room was a huge wolf laying on the Kou delegate's bed and a bird squawking indignantly at the canine.

_This wolf looks familiar..._

It took him a few minutes, _wait a minute..._

_"Kiba?!"_

* * *

**Omake: Suffixes**

"Hey, Hakuto!"

The loud voice was boisterous, Hinahoho walked up towards the Kou delegate.

"Hinahoho-san?" The teenager looked up at the giant with a questioning gaze.

Hinahoho sweat dropped, "you can quit the suffixes, you know. The '-san' makes me feel old."

"Ah," Hakuto hadn't even realized he'd been using suffixes, "I apologize, I'm used to referring to those older than me with respect."

"No, no! You don't need to apologize! It's actually a good thing, my wife would've loved you, someone who's so polite and respectful." He quickly stopped Hakuto from thinking he was anything but sheepish, "it's just, no one here really uses suffixes, isn't it a mouthful to say my name _with_ a suffix"

"Yes, it is."

The Imuchakk rubbed his head at the Prince's reply, _how blunt._

"Well then, were you going to tell me something, Hinahoho?"

"Oh yeah! Well..."

* * *

_Hakuyuu and Hakuren,_

_It's been three days since I've taken off and I'm writing my first letter back. I heard from Sin that we are going to Sasan next. It's west of Reim and Sin is hoping to establish trade with the Country seeing as it is one isolated within the mountains. There hasn't been much to report but I am getting better with dealing with the ship's sways. I hope your campaigns had gone well and that Mother and Father had returned safely._

_Has Kouen been doing well in my position? It can be slightly irritating with Brother Hakuren's jokes._

_Aboard a ship and sailing,_

_Hakuto._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There ya go, the end of the Kou Arc and we're heading towards Sasan. Anyone surprised by Kiba's sudden entrance? I wasn't sure whether to make 'em a important character or not.
> 
> I'm also planning on expanding on the Kou brothers' relationship with Hakuto. Excluding Kouha for now since he's still hidden somewhere in the Palace.
> 
> As for Jin, his (yes he's a male) name really isn't that creative, although it goes mean something so if you want, take a guess.


	6. The Sixth Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the entirety of the Sasan arc, mainly because Hakuto's presence didn't change much so some of the parts are kind of skimmed through. The Artemyra arc too, most likely. Hakuto's impact will really begin at around the Slave Arc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fact: Did you know? Hakuto enjoys making his own arrows, he doesn't trust the store bought ones, paranoid much?

The Sasan Kingdom was hidden away in a mountain range, completely isolated from the rest of the world, they keep to themselves, along with their beliefs, the incredibly pure Sasan Mineral. The Kingdom was run by their protectors, the Knights, and it's city was filled with beautiful arts and passion.

The Kingdom was beautiful.

Hakuto felt his breath leave him as he entered the Kingdom, this is his first time seeing a great city that is not ravished by war in many years.

The people walked and talked to each other cheerfully and smiles were on every face seen. The people wore jewelry like it was clothes and the glittering can get all over your face.

_Ahhh, it's kind of irritating..._ the amount of shimmering from the gold and silver was shining sunlight into his face and eyes. _I wish they'll just stop._

It's too bad be had to leave Kiba behind, but the wolf might cause trouble for the Sasanians since Hakuto wasn't sure about their animal policies. The black canine would've loved the positive feel of a country like this.

Next to him, Sinbad and Ja'far were pumped, but Hakuto was pretty sure it was for two completely different reasons.

"Everywhere I look, I see Gold! Silver!" Sinbad's loud yelling brought attention to the group as the people of Sasan flinched away.

_"They're outsiders..."_

_"We mustn't have anything to do with them!"_

_"...pagans from the impure world!"_

Their muttering wasn't all that quiet and a Knight approached the group when the crowd had gained his attention.

"This way," he gestured for the group to follow him as he explained that the people of Sasan rarely have any exchanges with the people of the outside world. Vaguely, Hakuto wondered how Reim managed to establish trade with a country of introverts.

When they reached a building, a short, plump man told them it was impossible to establish trade with Sasan as he shifted his turban around and snatched a piece of meat from it.

"W-What?" Sinbad's surprise was only there for a second, he must've learned something when he was initially refused by the Emperor.

"Please wait! Excuse my rudeness but..." Ja'far cut the man off, "this country trades its minerals and resources with Reim, as a company from that country, why are you unwilling to do business with us? I don't understand that."

The short man huffed, "that's just an offering as proof of Reim and Sasan's friendship, nothing more. After all," he smoothed his mustache, and scribbled around on his scroll, "Sasan's resources are all blessing from the gods, and the Reim Empire taught us their beliefs, it can be said that they are our comrades."

"But that's—"

Ja'far was cut off by Sinbad's hand, Hakuto grabbed onto the younger's shoulder, afraid that the trained assassin might jump the old Sasan man if he let go.

"If that's so, I would like you to teach me, not as a merchant, but as an individual, what can I do to build a friendship with Sasan?" Sinbad's smile was very charming, so charming that even the small man seemed surprised at his suggestion. "I wonder what I can do for your country," he continued, "I want us to share our cultures, faiths and my resolve to work together. If it's for the future of this country, I can do anything."

"Uh..." the man looked so speechless that Hakuto was beginning to feel sorry for him, "well, Sasan welcomes like-mindedness, if you really wish to build a friendship with Sasan, visit the Sasan Knights."

The man then proceeded to explain the workings and the importance of the top ranking knight, Darius Leoxses, the Knight King.

"...if you can get the Knights to accept you, Sasan well welcome you as a comrade."

"Sasan Knights, huh? Seems interesting!" The Company President was out the door in a purple flash.

"Wait! Sin! If you're rude to the Knight King, we might get kicked out!" Ja'far yelled after him, chasing the man to keep him out of trouble.

"They sure are lively..." Hakuto muttered under his breathe as Hinahoho laughed.

"I know, right?"

* * *

"Pardon me! I'd like to join the Sasan Knights!"

The two men in front of the door were still as statues as Sinbad tried to charm them.

"He looks nothing like when he was back in the building..." Hakuto said, "he looks like an idiot."

Hinahoho sweat dropped, "that's kind of blunt..."

"No, it's true," Ja'far nodded, "Sin can be smart at some times, but most of the time he's an idiot."

"Ah!" The trio looked over to see a battalion of knights coming out.

"Ruffian! He's a suspicious person!" Someone shouted, and everything escalated from there.

"Reinforcements, quick!"

"Hey!" Sinbad yelled, "I'm not anyone suspicious!"

"Sin! Stop talking!"

* * *

"Hahaha! I can't believe you, Sinbad!" Hinahoho laughed, "they paid so little attention to you it was funny!"

Hakuto bit off a chunk of meat, "it was, Sin, you looked like an idiot."

"I didn't think the Knights would be this unacommodating..."

"They're the governing organization that protects Sasan! Even if we get kicked out, you can't complain they're being rude, keep that in mind!" Ja'far went ahead to rattle off on Sinbad's behavior.

"I'll definitely get in next time! My intuition says so!" Sinbad looked forward confidently, he took a bite out of his meat as Hinahoho nudged him. "Oh? Good! Are you going to sneak in? I'll help you!"

"No, I want to enter fair and square..."

"Hinahoho, how many did you drink?"

"—are you listening to me, Sin! Stop provoking the Knights, Hinahoho, stop encouraging him!" Ja'far glared at the two elder members of their group as Hakuto laughed, taking Hinahoho's drink from him. "You shouldn't drink anymore, Hinahoho..."

"What would Rurumu think about your suggestions, Hinahoho!" Ja'far yelled over, Hinahoho laughed jovially, "it's fine! Rurumu won't mind, I'm sure..."

"Besides," Hakuto cut in, "foreigners like us can't leave the designated trade house at night anyways..."

"That's what I was saying," Ja'far scratched his head, "we can only operate during the day so we can't even make any progress right now!"

Sinbad grabbed a stick, "now, now, don't be so pessimistic, Ja'far. We're foreigners here, but being here is better than out in the streets, it's warm and we're given food and beds, we can work on this patiently, yeah?"

"Sin..." Ja'far looked surprised by the man's maturity.

"Besides..." Sinbad looked at the maid that was serving them, "it'd be a shame to have too little exposure here... Sasan's women are all full of modest beauty."

"Women, huh?"

"...good for him, ne?"

"...it was the women?"

"Ano..." a voice interrupted them, a young man with red hair and a turban was tapping on their table, "excuse me, may I... share this table with you?"

"Huh? But there are plenty of tables around, you don't have to share with us," all the members shared Sinbad's confusion.

"That's not it! I just really want to talk with you guys!" He looked really excited, "I can't learn about the outside world unless I talk to outsiders because of our doctrine, especially as a Knight Apprentice, the precepts are really strict so... travelers, would you please teach a Knight like me about the outside world?!"

_Knight?!_

Making eye contact with each other, the group members nodded, Ja'far immediately swooped in to make him comfortable while Hinahoho poured him a drink and Sinbad called over the maid. Hakuto set up some utensils for him and tried to make small talk.

"HEY!" The maid grabbed the Knight by his collar, "how many times do I have to tell you, this facility is for foreigners, normal citizens, especially Knights aren't allowed here!"

The Knight doesn't look at all bothered by breaking the rules, instead he became upset that the woman was trying to force him to leave, "just a little bit wouldn't be that bad..."

"NO!" The woman exclaimed, "please think about you'd position, your not just a Knight, you're... the Son of the Knight King, right?!"

_Son of the Knight King?!_ Everyone's mind screeched to a halt at those words, the Knight yelled as he was hit by the maid.

"He is Mystras, the son of the current Knight King, Darius." The maid introduced the group to the young Knight.

Mystras smiled sheepishly, "I'm also a candidate for the next Knight King..."

The server then proceeded to insist on Mystras leaving before he gets caught, to which the young Knight refused.

"I don't wanna! I worked so hard to get in here! What do precepts and doctrines have anything to do with it! I wanna hear about the outside world!" He cried as the woman tried to kick him out.

"What are you saying! Your a Knight—"

"Now, now, Miss," Sinbad cut in, grabbing a hold of the server's hand, "he just wants to hear about our stories, we'd be happy to speak to a Knight, could you just overlook this... just for a while longer?"

He smiled at the server, the dubbed, "Lady-Killer Smile," by Ja'far and the server blushed, "j-just for a little while!"

"Thank you, Miss!"

_"As expected of Sin..."_ Hinahoho looked impress while Ja'far gave a, _"wow,"_ like he couldn't believe it had worked.

Hakuto focused on getting Mystras a seat, the Knight looked disturbingly impressed by Sinbad's flirtation strategy.

"Don't, just... don't." Hakuto told him when Mystras inquired whether he could do the same.

As Mystras explained his unwillingness to stay inside the Mountains forever, Hakuto distracted himself with the architecture of the facility. He remembered the beauty of the Palace and wondered how the inside would look like, no doubt the place would be somewhere Kouen would flourish in.

_Perhaps I could send him some books on Sasan History and Legends..._

"...if I have to live stifled in this confined country, I'd rather die breathing freely in the wide world."

Hakuto snapped out of his thoughts as Sinbad began pulling out his sword, lightning flashed as he began his story.

"—I'll personally tell you, the Adventures of Sinbad... begins now!"

* * *

"That was an impressive performance, Sin." Hakuto told the Merchant as Mystras left.

"That's right, you've never seen it before..." Ja'far remembered.

"Yes, I've heard of the amazing theatre performances and read the stories, I always wanted to travel to Reim and see for myself the amazing tale of Sinbad," the man said as he began to get up, "I'll head to bed then, we'll need the rest if the rest of our stay here would be as difficult as today."

"Yeah, I'll get to bed too, night Sinbad, Ja'far." Hinahoho also stood up, heading towards his inn room.

"Alright, sleep well, both of you."

* * *

Sinbad yawned as he, Ja'far, and Hinahoho left the trade house. Hakuto has left an hour earlier to go to the bookstore, he had wanted to buy something for his cousin, Kouen and promised to meet up with the group at the Palace later.

On their way to the Palace, they ran into an old face, at least an old face for Sinbad.

"Yunan?!"

Yunan explained to them how recent countries had began to conquer dungeons to gain more power, included inside the list is the newly created Kou Empire, a "rising superpower," made up from the unification of three countries.

_So they did it, huh, Hakuto will be happy._

"It see, that's good." Hinahoho smiled at the thought of Hakuyuu using his metal vessel, the two had been paired together and got along fairly well.

"Sinbad, what will you do?" Yunan asked, "can you face other dungeon capturers?"

Sinbad grinned confidently, "yeah, I intend to."

Yunan looked surprised for a moment, before he chuckled softly, "you sure are interesting, I'll be looking forward to seeing, the reaction of two dungeon conquerors meeting."

"He vanished?!" Ja'far looked around as Hinahoho curiously poked the ground Yunan was sitting on with his harpoon.

As the group neared the Palace, they could see Hakuto talking to one of the Knights. Looking grim, he gestured for the group to approach him.

"What? We can't see Mystras?!"

Ja'far was looking around with paranoia, still spooked by his encounter with Yunan.

"Normally we wouldn't be obligated to talk to you but... this is a special occasion," the tall man held out his hand to prevent the merchants from going forward, "Mystras has officially declared his withdrawal from the Knights."

"So he left?" Ja'far exclaimed, Hakuto shook his head.

"No, Mystras is still here," he explained, "I heard about the proceedings of this ceremony, if Mystras manages to defeat all the senior Knights, including the Knight King, then he would become the strongest person and Sasan and be free to leave."

"But that's..." Ja'far said, doubting Mystras' chances as he remembered Yunan's words.

_"The Dungeon Capturer of this country is the Knight King, Darius Leoxses!"_

"Well, we'll just have to see this for ourelves, right?" Sinbad proceeds to walk past the Knights and enter the Palace.

* * *

Hakuto sighed as Sinbad carried Darius Leoxses off to who-knows-where and the Knights were starting to turn on the group.

As in awe as he was with Sinbad's Djinn Equip—who _wasn't?—_ the effects it brings along was terrible.

The Knights muttered about the recent events and everything was loud yet quiet at the same time, the quiet murmurs building up to become loud buzzing.

"It's been thirty minutes..." Hinahoho said as he leaned back against his harpoon.

Hakuto sighed, he too was leaning on his weapon—the _guandao,_ "Sin sure is taking his time."

"That guy..." Ja'far crosses his arms, "he better not had done things too violently..."

"—they're back!" Mystras exclaimed as Sinbad unequiped his Djinn.

"Knight King!"

"Knight King, are you harmed?!"

"What happened to the duel?"

"Who won?!"

Darius raised his hand and the crowd silenced, "this match, according to our mutual consultation, ends in a draw."

_Oh?_ Hakuto was positive that Sinbad's power is much stronger than the Knight King's, _what is he planning?_

"Isn't the power of the gods only given to the Knight King?" One of the Knights asked, Darius nodded his head,

"I believed that just like you did, but it seems that other countries have also had conquered these towers and gained the power of gods." Gesturing time Sinbad next to him, the Knight King addressed the agreement they had came to, "he has been accepted as a disciple of Sasan, chosen by god! I will accept him as an ally who wields the same power I do!"

The Knights hesitated, before they all straightened up and declared, "The will of the Knight King is the will of God! We will obey! The Order of the Knights... Welcome the Disciple Sinbad, as a citizen of Sasan!"

Hakuto patted Mystras' shocked face, "h-he got Father to agree on something...?"

"Don't worry, you're not the only one," he said, smiling, "he got my father to agree with him too."

Mystras sniffed, "I-I'm so happy... H-Hakutooo." He cried, latching on to the man.

"O-Oi..."

* * *

"Thanks for waiting!" Mystras was running towards them, waving his hand as he approached. Ja'far was raving off to Sinbad about the mess he had to clean up, such as actually negotiating the terms of their alliance.

"Have you said your goodbyes, Mystras?" Sinbad asked, to which the newly promoted Knight smiled, "Yes! I've also been given a mission."

"Hmm? I see, so the Knights can leave the Mountains if they are assigned a special mission," Hakuto shifted around his pack to grab a treat, he never ate breakfast that morning because of the rush.

"Oh? I guess the Knight King's the type of guy to arrange to send his son away, huh?" Sinbad commented, Hinahoho sweat dropped, "don't say it like that, my dad and Hakuto's did the same after all."

"Now I can finally leave...this all seems like a dream."

Sinbad slung an arm over Mystras' shoulder, "oh? I understand how happy you must be to leave, but I'll be putting you to work!"

Mystras looked up with a puzzled expression, "work?"

"Yeah," Ja'far cut in, "since you'll be in charge of all the contact with Sasan!"

"A-Ah!" The Knight panicked, "is that how it is?! Can I really do work? What if I mess up?! My father and all the knights would be angry with me—"

"Brother!" A small voiced interrupted Mystras' yelling.

"S-Spartos...!" A little body collided with Mystras, holding on to him tightly. "Why are you leaving without telling me? You're so mean!"

As the child cried, Mystras comforted him, "we'll meet again someday, when you grow up and take the same mission I do... let's travel the world together!"

With those final words, the group turned to return to their ship, and Hakuto was filled with an urge to see his younger siblings.

* * *

A loud shriek sounded as they were climbing down the stairs, the group looked up to see a red hawk flying towards them.

"W-What?!" Mystras jumped as the bird swooped down and landed on Hakuto's arm. "This is Jin, my personal delivery bird, he's strong enough to carry heavy packages across the ocean," the Kou native boasted as he grabbed the letter from the canteen attached to the bird's foot.

As he read the letter, a smiled began to form on his face.

"Who's it from?" Ja'far asked, curious as to what content could make him smile so happily.

"It's nothing," Hakuto folder the letter and continued walking, Jin having landed on his favorite perch, on the head, next to the silver headpiece. "Just a letter from brothers."

* * *

_Hakuto,_

_We recieved your letter, and we hope you are doing well. Mother and Father had returned and Kai has officially surrendered while Gou has also been taken down, with the power of Purson, we were able to make short work of their army. Kouen has recently turned 16, as you know, your birthday should be soon too, and he has left to conquer a dungeon on his own, the second dungeon, Agares. He had claimed that he was proud to survive Hakuren's blabbering and that the one you should pity is Koumei, who, after you left, became Hakuren's favorite person to bother. I saw him accompanying Koumei when he was feeding pidgeons an hour ago._

_Hakuryuu and Hakuei both miss you very much, they claim that their 'fun' big brother is gone because Hakuren tried too hard and I'm no fun._

_I thought playing Xiangqi was a perfect way of passing time, but Hakuryuu ended up almost swallowing an elephant piece. Hakuei was a bit better although she recently picked up a hobby in cooking and the results are... not very satisfactory._

_On a happier note, Kouen found a lost brother of his, a kid named Kouha, he's not that much older than Hakuryuu, maybe three years at most, and was hidden away because of his mentally ill mother._

_Stay safe,_

_Hakuyuu_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I was reading these chapters again to remind myself what happened and I saw Mystras' promise use and I just started sobbing. He said, "when you grow up you take the same mission as I did," and I was all, he diddddd but he took your mission. And I died a little. The things I do for you guys.


	7. The Seventh Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, last fact for the last chapter of this first part: Hakuto is not virgin.

"Guys, I think I see it!" Sinbad's excited shout distracted Hakuto from his game, his hand paused midair on top of the Xiangqi board, Kiba was behind him, as a back rest.

Ja'far, who had decided to become his opponent, grappled his hair as he tried to think of a way out of his bind. "Ahh! This is stupid!"

Hakuto chuckled, "this game is all about war tactics, something I have a lot of experience on, I suppose that if it had been about... say, financing, it would be easier for you?"

"Ah that's right!" Ja'far suddenly sat up, "I still need to finish the homework Rurumu left me to do!"

"Rurumu...?"

"She's Hinahoho's wife," Ja'far scrambled across the deck, looking for his bag and a pencil, "she's the one to have helped me with the trading stuff."

"Oh? She must be a brilliant woman then, if her apprentice is already so talented after only two years of lessons."

Ja'far flushed at the compliment, "y-yeah! Rurumu helped us a lot with all the official things."

The Prince chuckled at the cute reaction, Ja'far is still just a kid, no matter how he tries to not act like one. "Let's go check out our new destination, yeah?"

* * *

"Woah! Amazing!" The island was not visible at their current level, the only evidence of a society above the cliffs were the birds flying around, carrying people around as they moved.

"Hey, Mystras! Look at these plants!" Sinbad waved his hands around, the boy next to him doing the same, "Sinbad! That bird over there is huge! Awesome!" The young Knight looked thrilled at his first island exploration.

"...we'll need to continue on foot," Ja'far looked up from his scroll as the two behind him crowed loudly, "we should make careful preparations..."

"Hey, something about that bird seems strange doesn't it?" Sinbad yelled, Ja'far tightened his grip on the scroll in his hands, Mystras tried to look too, "h..huh? It looks like it getting closer, little by little..."

Hakuto looked up, just in time to see a giant shadow block the sun, and with a swoop, a large bird flew by their ship, before turning around and drifting at the same pace as their sail.

Distantly, Hakuto could heat Sinbad's exclamations of, "THEY'RE HUGE!" But he was mostly watching the women on top of the bird, who had waved and said, "how rare, some travelers from outside!"

The woman at the front tuck her hair behind her ear, "Yoo-hoo! Are you coming to visit our country, Artemyra?" She asked.

"So there were people riding the birds..." Hakuto said with an interested smile, he petted Kiba, who had whines at his Master's lack of attention, while growling at the birds who stole it.

"I know the people at Artemyra are good with animals but..." Mystras started, before his face flushed red, "they're also super beautiful!"

Hearing the Knight's proclamation, the two sent the group a flirty smile before teasing them, "we have high hopes for you... do your best!"

Sinbad, that shameless womanizer, returned the service tenfold, "sure. I got it. I'm counting on you to take good care of me tonight."

The women's haughty expression crumbled as they blushed, "w-what an idiot, to take my joke seriously..! It'd be good if people like you just turn back without trying to climb the ravine!"

As the women left, Mystras proclaimed his undying loyalty and respect to Sinbad as Ja'far despaired, Hinahoho clapped his shoulder as Hakuto rubbed his head, "let's do our best, Ja'far."

* * *

_"I'm quite puzzled, Mystras, have you never touched a woman before?"_

_"H-Hah?! What sort of question is that, Hakuto! Have you?!"_

_"Of course, since I was twelve!"_

_"T-Twelve..?"_

_"Yes, since royalty is required to conserve their bloodlines, as soon as we are of age, the elderly councilmen immediately began sending woman to our room, it becomes quite annoying after awhile."_

_"Woman, annoying? Hakuto, what is wrong with you?!"_

_"Ah, Sin! Yes, I thought that since Mystras was also a prince, he would have to do the same thing..."_

_"M-Maybe it's just a Kou tradition?"_

_"No. I'm positive that Reim, Parthevia, Balbadd, and even the distant Kina also engages in this culture."_

_"That means that... Hakuto you're..."_

_"Most of the time the we don't actually do anything that involves skinship."_

_"Oh good..."_

_"Wait... most of the time?!"_

* * *

Sinbad collapsed as his walking stick trembled under his weight. _Why do they... look fine?_

Hakuto came by next to the man, "one of them is an ex-assassin and another lived in the mountains their entire life, how can they not be fine?"

"H-Hakuto... why are _you_ fine?" The man asked the Kou native as he began to see light. _Ah... is that God beckoning me towards him...?_

"Normally, I would say it's because of my training as an army man, but it's also because I'm riding on Kiba."

_Oh_ , Sinbad thought, _so that's why he seemed taller._

The wolf that had snuck onboard their ship had grew to the size of a massive horse. A fluffy, furry, whiny horse.

"Ahhh! I can't take this! No more, don't wanna! I'm tired, I can't walk another step! Ja'far, let's take a break here!"

"Hah?! You were the one who wanted to climb this today!"

"It must be nice to be so young..."

"You're young too!"

Hakuto jumped off his furry steed, "we're going to be climbing cliff tops from now on, everyone needs to be cautious."

As Ja'far threw a dart at a cliff side, Sinbad suddenly jumped up, "hehe, I just realized something."

Chucking darkly, the Company President raised his sword, a quick flash signifies his djinn equip and, sure enough, in place of his clothes were bright blue scales, "with a djinn equip, I can fly! Like this, I can pass through the ravines easily, just like those girls on the bird!"

Sending his subordinates a cheeky wink, he waved and readied himself to fly off, "so that's how it is—gah!"

Without any hestitaion, Ja'far had snatched him out of the sky with great precision and proceeded to slam him into the ground.

As the kid was scolding Sinbad, Hakuto helped himself to some water, tuning out the loud shouts as the scene that played before him became more and more common.

Shaking his head, he turned to Hinahoho, "Sin never learns, does he?"

* * *

"Look!" Mystras called excitedly, "the sun has set!"

Despite their worn out bodies, the group of merchants smiled widely at the sight in front of them, little houses were built out of the cliffs and vines hung from house to house.

"This is... Artemyra!"

As they walk down the streets, Hakuto watched the interactions between the people—who were all female.

As they listened to Ja'far remind Sinbad for the thousandth time that they weren't here to sight see, Kiba had walked off to introduce himself to some of the birds who had landed at the street's edge.

"-and even though I want to meet the Queen immediately..." Ja'far said, sniffing at the air around them, "we stink!"

"It's to be expected, five men climbed a ravine in a single day in this hot weather..." Hinahoho mumbled, Hakuto laughed softly.

"Perhaps we should find an inn to bathe first before our audience?"

Small hums of agreement decided their next course of action.

"—NO INN?!" The group exclaimed loudly as the Artemyra woman covered her ears, shrugging, she smiled innocently, "we rarely get visitors afterall, the only place you can wash up is the river or the red light district."

Ja'far sighed, "let's skip bathing then—"

"Ja'far," Sinbad's grace tone brought a slight pause to the young boy, the group looked towards their leader, "to head to the royal palace without bathing would be incredibly rude," with a self-satisfied look, the man finished his predictable line of thought, "let's go to the red light district."

"I refuse."

"I would prefer to take swim in the river then."

The two _properly_ responsible member of the group also happened to be the two youngest.

One can't help but hold their heads as they thought of what would happen with this immature group of hormone filled merchants traveling in a female-dominant country.

One thing is for sure though: whatever it is, it won't be pretty.

* * *

_"Sin, Ja'far, Hinahoho, have you finished bathing?"_

_"Not yet, Hakuto, why?"_

_"Ah—I was hoping to visit the bookshop and pick up a scroll on Artemyra culture and history to send to Koue—to my cousin."_

_"Go ahead, we'll meet you at the palace!"_

* * *

"Artemyra sure has a lot of cultural differences with Sasan and Kou, the prostitutes in the red light district are males? How interesting..." Hakuto read along the unwinded scroll, Kiba at his heels, carrying some of the packs of Artemyra specialty berries bought for his friends.

Humming as he lined up at the counter, a blonde woman behind him spoke up, disrupting his concentration.

"Ara~ are you a traveler?" She said, taking note of the scroll Hakuto was holding, _"Artemyran Life,"_ "I hope Artemyra is to your liking."

Smiling lightly, Hakuto furled the scroll and placed it in front of the store owner to purchase, "indeed, Miss, I am from outside of this country—in fact, I recently arrived here after hiking my way up to this country. The way of life here is truly magnificent! I believe my stay here will help me learn more of the world and it's history."

Giggling, the blonde covered her smile with a hand, "Im glad you enjoy your time here, not many visit Artemyra you see, it is nice to know that we are leaving good impressions with our guests, I am Parsine, I hope we meet again, traveler-san."

Hakuto bought the book as he watched the woman leave, she looked to be of someone with a good income, if her fabric quality and skin tone were to speak, most likely a gonvernment official.

Shaking his head, Hakuto packed his bag and grabbed an apple from his fruit basket, tossing an orange slice at Kiba, who yipped and jumped to snatch the treat.

It was time to meet the Queen.

* * *

_"WHAT?!"_ Hakuto's loud exclamation caused the nearby birds to scatter from the Palace.

On the throne, Queen Mira Dianus Artemina carelessly shrugged, "yeah, those men insulted me so O threw them down a cliff."

_Insulted?! Ja'far would never allow anyone to do that!_

Calming his nerves, _because the group has been force to enter the castle as soon as they've arrived at the entrance, leaving no time for them to wait for me_ , Hakuto clasped his hands together and questioned, "if I may ask, you majesty, how exactly did they insult you?"

Face reddening, the Queen sat up, "that man—he had the nerves to _flirt_ with me, the Queen!—that... that shameless man— _Sinbad!_ " She spat out the name like it was poison.

Dread filled Hakuto's mind because, _yeah Sinbad would definitely do that._

"Perhaps he was only, complimenting your beauty? I _do_ apologize for our leader but... would you still consider completing our original goal, establishing trade?" If he couldn't find a way to save them, he'll just have to trust them and complete their original objective: the trade deal.

Sighing aloud, Queen Mira waved her hand, "leave me for the day, merchant, I will not feed you to the ravine, but to establish trade? Hah! After that disrespect, be glad you are not like the three from before!"

_Three?_ "Three, milady? There were four travelers..."

Brightening, Queen Mira gestured for some servants to prepare her bathing chambers, "yes, the Imuchakk was kept alive for research purposes, I believe you'll find that he has been treated quite well..."

_Well..._ one cannot blame Hakuto for being doubtful, "is that so... may I inquire his current location?"

The Queen laughed, "you may, but you will not get an answer, I will lend you a room in my palace, seeing as you _are_ a potential business partner, I'll treat you well."

Hakuto didn't think throwing the Company President down a ravine was better treatment than letting an employee sleep outside, but perhaps to the Queen, it was.

Queen Mira stood up and walked past Hakuto, and towards the exit of her throne room, "I tire of your presence, _man,_ I will take my bath to rid myself of the scent of your kind and retire to my chambers."

Biting his lips, Hakuto knew better than to push the Queen, clasping his hands together, he bowed low and allowed a servant to usher him and Kiba out of the throne room and down a hall, "of course, you majesty, I hope you are blessed with the best of dreams."

* * *

Kiba had befriended a Queen Mira's children, the kids enjoying his soft fur and muscular body, climbing his back and playing with his tail, the youngest, Pisti, took out a feather and played a tune, grooming his fur as they listened.

Hakuto spent the next few days working tirelessly to convince the Queen to establish trade, and after everything he did, Queen Mira has agreed rather readily.

Grinning childishly, the woman had nonchalantly stated, "I was going to agree anyway, it's not like your President would've survived the ravine, we can sign the contract if you want, the detested man is gone anyways."

Fists clenched, Hakuto had refused to sign the contract, he had worked out every detail with the Queen, but he had not signed, because that privilege only belonged to the President, and Hakuto would not believe that Sinbad is dead unless someone brought the man's rotting corpse to his very feet.

If his Master had died, then Hakuto would assume it was at the hands of Ja'far, for doing something as arrogant, rude, stupid, disrespectful and more, in front of the Queen. And if Ja'far had not killed him for it, then Hakuto would, for causing him so much trouble during his negotiations with Queen Mira despite not physically being there.

* * *

A loud rumble outside the Palace had Hakuto jumping out the window.

No, no he did not suicide, don't worry, but the shock of seeing Sinbad, that purple haired, troublesome _bastard,_ had him scrambling to get to the scene.

The reason?

Because that _idiot_ is fighting the fucking _Queen_ of the country that Hakuto spent _weeks_ to try and get on the good side of, because this one fight can end with all of his time and effort to be in vain.

"Hakuto!" Ja'far's yell brought him back to reality and the teen stopped next to him and Mystras, who looked to be wearing _something,_ which is odd because Queen Mira had mentioned stripping them into their birthday suits in order for her to get Sinbad's metal vessels.

"Ja'far, Mystras! What's happening here?" Hakuto grimaced at the loud sound the Queen's djinn equip is producing as it shot out flashes of lightning followed shortly by the loud booms of thunder.

As they watched the Queen freeze midair and then attacking, completely missing Sinbad as he moved behind her, Ja'far explained Valefor, Sinbad's equip, and his ability, stagnation.

"How frightening," Hakuto remarked as he watched Queen Mira began to become short on breathe, "I _do_ hope this won't cause her to reject the treaty she and I had planned out for so long."

Ja'far's head snapped towards him, "wha—you did what?!"

Waving his hand at the boy, Hakuto grinned, "I didn't sign it, Queen Mira was quite exasperated by my refusal to believe in your deaths, it seems my faith was not misplaced."

Relieved, Ja'far sent the Kou native a grateful smile, "thanks, Hakuto, for working out the contract and believing in us."

"It's no problem, I didn't follow that man to see his death, I followed him to see his achievements and I'll be sure that I'll never see his death—I'll be sure to go first."

"Heh, what a coincidence, I think the same."

"...besides, I figured that if he _did_ die, the one to kill him would be you—for messing up a big job like this."

"...you're right, _Sin_ get the fuck down here!"

* * *

"Hinahoho? He was taken by the Queen for... uhhh...'experiments'"

"Experiments?" Ja'far asked as he heard Sinbad and Mystras argue over 'keeping secrets,' and 'no-I'm-nots!'

"Yes... although Queen Mira refused to inform me what experiments and where he was kept so I was... regrettably unable to rescue him from captivity, the Queen was quite insistent on her 'harmless' research."

"...we were quite reluctant to let him go but... here's your fifth companion!"

Hinahoho's face was indescribable, it looked like he had the life sucked out of him, it was hilarious.

As the girls waved goodbye to the Imuchakk, Ja'far and Sinbad turned towards him, "Hinahoho..." Sinbad started, the man tensed, as if he expected some bad comment to be thrown at him, "what about Rurumu?"

At that, Hinahoho exploded, "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BAD! I DIDN'T CROSS THAT LAST LINE!" He yelled, vehemently denying any crimes he thought they might think he committed.

Hakuto sweat dropped at their antics before his attention was caught by a shaking Mystras, leaning closer, he heard the Knight's muttering, "Hinahoho... HOW COULD YOU!"

Bursting into tears, the teen cried, "I really wanted to do this and that with girls too! This is cruel, too cruel!"

_This kind of... that kind of thing...?_

Before Mystras could finish his rant, Sinbad clapped his hand on his shoulder, "Mystras..." he began, "don't cry anymore. While Hinahoho doing those things were unexpected, we still have a future to look forward to!"

Sniffing, Mystras turned his red eyes to Sinbad, "you mean..."

"That's right! There's still hope, a path laid out to us since the beginning, the heaven in this country that stimulates our greatest desires..."

"The red-light district!"

Watching his ragtag team of companions, Hakuto grabbed Ja'far and hauled him off to the river, "little boys like you shouldn't affiliate yourself with sad, virgin men with raging hormones," he proclaimed, loud enough for the entire group to hear, "let's get cleaned up in the river."

Nodding, Ja'far grabbed Hakuto's hand as they walked towards the only _other_ place they could take a bath.

" _STOP SAYING BLUNT STUFF, HAKUTO!"_ Could be heard behind them, Ja'far turned around and called,

"He's not, he's being honest, you're all sad, virgin teenagers!"

* * *

"Parsine-san!" Hakuto greeted the blonde woman with surprise, "you are accompanying us?"

Crossing her arms, the woman smiled, "yes, it is a pleasure to be joining your team, Hakuto-san."

"You know her, Hakuto?" Ja'far asked, not recognizing the Artemyan. Hakuto smiled, "yes, Parsine-san was in the bookstore I visited on the first day here, although finding out that she will be joining us is a pleasant surprise."

Behind them, Mystras sulked, "even Hakuto had a better time than me... UWAAAAAH!"

Kiba, who couldn't take Mystras' tears, nipped the boy's pants, although he ended up accidentally leaving a hole in the soft material.

"Ah! _Kiba!"_

* * *

_Hakuyuu,_

_Heh~? A new brother? Hmmm that's interesting, maybe I'll meet him one day. We have arrived in Artemyra although Sinbad had disrespected the Queen and was thrown down a ravine, it seems our stay here will take longer than expected, I hope Kouen does well with the dungeon capture. Tell Koumei that if Hakuren becomes too annoying, he can threaten to reveal his... graphic reads to mother, it is located on the third drawer left of his bedside table. If you want to entertain Hakuryuu and Hakuei... perhaps try to play an instrument? Mother does quite often._

_I'm glad the war has ended, do inform me on the proceedings._

_Hakuto._


	8. Intermission: Sailing Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! As a celebration for finishing the first part of the Fanfic, here's an early update, an intermission showing some snippets of our fav OC interacting with his crew mates during their sailing journey, meant to show some development of relationships. 
> 
> Keep safe, everyone!

"Ja'far?" Hakuto peeked over the kid's shoulder, looking to see what the boy was studying. "Are you struggling with this?"

Grumbling, the white haired merchant nodded grudgingly, "how can a company crash by buying a rare trading item?"

Smiling, the older teen sat down next to his friend, he took the scroll Ja'far was mulling over, "Is this homework from the esteemed Rurumu-san?"

"Yeah..."

"Well... this is quite simple, let's use an example, say... Sasan Metal. The metal is expensive, yes?"

A quiet nod.

"Alright, why is it expensive, Ja'far?"

"It's... pure,”

"And?"

"And rare."

"That's right! If something is expensive, people want it, because it's exotic, now if that Sasan Metal is suddenly sold from a lot of different sources, like a sudden Sasan Metal boom, thus making it more common, then what happens to its value?"

"If it's not rare... people won't buy it for being exotic, so it becomes cheaper."

"Further more, if it's being sold from multiple sources, the company that bought it for expensive values would..."

"It would go bankrupt! That's it, so simple! How'd I not get it?!"

Chuckling at Ja'far's frustration, he ruffled his hair, "the priests in the Palace were quite good at teaching em this, my personal teacher, Feng, was an all-rounder, good at economics, politics, fighting, and military strategies."

Grinning at the Kou native, Ja'far nodded, "thanks, Hakuto!"

"It is no trouble, feel free to ask me if you have another problem."

"Yeah."

* * *

Sinbad was walking across the deck when he saw Hakuto helping Ja'far sharpen his darts, a real honor considering how closely Ja'far usually keeps them. The ex-assassin himself was working on a math problem Hakuto had given him.

"Huh, your really good at this."

Hakuto looked up at Sinbad's comment, he asked, "at what?"

Gesturing to Ja'far, Sinbad tried to explain, "at, well... taking care of other people?"

Hakuto looked at him weirdly, before he returned to work, "perhaps," he started, "it's because I was never really a younger brother."

"What? You've got two older brothers."

"Yeah, but," Hakuto rubbed the back of his neck, "since the war started when all of us were so young, I never had time to act like a younger brother, when Hakuei and Hakuryuu were born, I took care of them as an older brother, so..."

Shrugging as he let off the rest of the sentence, Hakuto inspected the newly sharpened dart, "I always acted like an older brother, even to people older than me."

Sinbad left the pair to their work as Hakuto handed Ja'far the darts, checking over the math problems. As he was walking by the sails, Mystras ran past him, exclaiming, "Hakuto, you've gotta help me!"

_Yep, totally a big brother_

* * *

"What are you doing?" Hinahoho peered curiously at the guy in front him.

Hakuto looked up from his project, "cleaning my spear, it was given to me by my brothers, afterall. I have to keep it at the best condition."

"Heh~ if you want, I can give you the old sharpening tool for my harpoon, my horn doesn't need it."

"Really?" Hakuto smiled up at the giant, "I was wondering how I would sharpen it, thanks Hinahoho!"

Laughing loudly, the giant patted his back and walked to his bag, "it's nothing, I was going to throw it out anyway."

* * *

"Hey, Hakuto?" Mystras asked his younger friend, the two were relaxing by the side of the ship.

Leaning against the sturdy wood, the Kou Prince glanced towards the young Knight, "Hmm?"

Scratching his cheek, Mystras looked down at his hands, "you... were a prince, right?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Mytras turned his gaze towards the sea, "how was it like, being a prince I mean."

"Hmm," Hakuto's gaze was quiet and thoughtful, "I was a general, the left hand of my eldest brother, the Crown Prince."

"Your country, it was at war?"

Hakuto stared at the hard wood under his feet, reaching a hand to rub the cuff of diamond on his ear, "Yes, our neighbors, Gou and Kai were warring against each other, being a country that was in between their lands, we too were involved."

"Was it hard?" Mystras asked awkwardly, "to be fighting so early on, I mean."

"...At the beginning, I suppose. Although you get used to it, I was mostly assigned to the Navy, with Kai being a country that ran by sea, they have a powerful Marine system, although fighting by land was also no rarity," placing a hand under his chin, Hakuto reminisce about his time as a warrior. "When I wasn't at sea, I was with my brothers or father, fighting against the barbarians from Gou or the Cavaliers from Kai."

"That's..."

"It doesn't matter now," stretching his arms, Hakuto started to walk towards the canteen, "the war ended after my brother's capture of Purson, it's nothing to worry about—I wonder what's for lunch?"

As he left the ship side—and Mystras—, Hakuto couldn't help the unnerving feeling in his chest whenever he thought about his family.

_Calm down Hakuto,_ he thought to himself, that's right, it's not like the people could somehow penetrate the Palace security, his family was safe, Father, Hakuyuu, Hakuren, Mother, Hakuryuu and Hakuei were safe, they can protect each other, and if not, then Kouen and Koumei were sure to prevent any bad fate from befalling upon them, right?

_Right?_

Right. They were perfectly safe.

_(Why would he ever think they're not?)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Hakuto you big bro... keep doing what your doing, even if you're younger than Sin and Mystras.


	9. The Eighth Stone

The streets of Reim were very different to Kou.

It was different, the walls were delicately designed, the tall columns were crafted with hard marble. The people, despite the war, were laughing joyously. Reim was a good country.

It was so different, but similar too. Despite all the happy smiles and chasing children, Hakuto could hear the distant, quiet clinking of chains on the ankles of some. One look at their expressions told him who they were.

_Slaves._

Kou was the same, there were always those who wore brown among the green and whites. The slaves who were working in order to support the country. The slaves who... had hope because of the law that Hakuyuu and Hakuren has insisted upon.

He can still remember his brother's words when slavery was introduced, his way of keeping morality in the inhumane system.

_"Four years, four years slavery, that's the most I'll go."_

Its been two weeks since they landed in Remano, yet this is the first time he took a walk. They had spent the previous times dedicating their minds to the Company, where's the best place to build a branch office in Kou? Would this sell? What's the estimated delivery time?

As he walked among the chains, Hakuto couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, despite the lack of smiles and laughter, Kou never had the sound of chains. Why? Because the slaves didn't have any.

The low buzz of the crowd was giving him a migraine. _No, that's not it._

_Reim_ was giving him a migraine. The different laws, scenery, and people, it's all giving him a migraine.

_Am I homesick?_

Figuring that a walk in the woods would do, Hakuto clenched his fist around his bow, grabbing the polished handle of his Guandao and headed towards the outskirts of the city.

Would the smell of grass and wind soothe him? Maybe.

_(It reminded him of home.)_

_(It reminded him of his tent in the army camp.)_

_(It reminded him of his family.)_

_(It smelled like home.)_

* * *

A roar torned through Hakuto's thoughts, it rang in his ears, painfully, _painfully,_ loud.

In a second, the Prince was off, speeding towards the sound as a second rumble sounded.

What he saw as he arrived was a reptilian figure, roaring loudly at a group of men as some women hid behind it.

"Hah!" The leader of the men was saying, "so _this_ is the new 'monster' that's been attacking caravans! The women would sell for quite a bit too! Men, take them! The monster is going straight to the coliseum!"

As the men advanced, Hakuto noted that one of them had a tool, most likely magical, in his hand, an ominous purple light glowing off of it as the creature's arms shines the same purple. The man cackled, "with my magic tool, that creature can't move a muscle!"

Readying his bow, Hakuto grabbed an arrow from his waist and pulled the string, watching it snap back as he released, sending a deadly arrow straight at the man with the magic tool, stabbing into his forearm.

The man screeched, dropping the weapon as Hakuto jumped out of the bushes, swinging his guandao at his arm, easily hacking it off, leaving him with only a stump.

"Wha—!" The reptile startled as he regained control of his body, he immediately jumped into the fray, deciding that asking the man questions could be saved until later.

With another loud call, Hakuto jumped away as a big spurt of fire decimated the rest of the men, leaving behind only ashes.

"Let's go! We can't let them catch you!" He yelled as he grabbed him, running further into the woods, the women chasing after them.

_What am I doing?_

* * *

"So... who're you?" Hakuto asked as he settled himself in the cave the lizard had led them to.

Looking down, the lizard said, "I am... Drakon. I used to be human."

"Dra—" one of the women said, her pink hair was cropped short, one of the other ladies shook her head as she grabbed her shoulder, preventing her from speaking.

"Really?" Hakuto inspected the large, scaly body. "You don't look very human—no offense."

Drakon shook his head, "none taken, I'm not a human anymore anyways, you heard the people—I'm a monster."

Hakuto barked out a laugh, "monster? Ha! If that's so, the I guess I'm one too, you saw back there, I don't think killing people so casually is really humane. I'm Hakuto. By the way."

They spent a few hours talking to each other, Hakuto learned that Drakon was originally human but he was turned into his current form.

_("By what, a witch?")_

In exchange, Hakuto told them about his homeland, and also taught Drakon how to hunt in order to stop him from attacking anymore caravans and risk getting captured.

_("Don't kill too many though, you shouldn't mess up nature's order, invasive species.")_

By the time the finished, the sun had set and Drakon said, "We are, grateful, to your assistance, Hakuto, but you _must_ return, we cannot have you in trouble because you assisted us."

"It's no problem, really, but you're right, I should probably return to the company, but I'll come back, let me know if you need any help!" Brushing off the dirt on his pants, Hakuto stood up, before turning around, he asked, "which way leads to society?"

* * *

In the end, the pink haired woman had volunteered to lead him back to the city, as they walked, Hakuto tried to make some small talk.

"So... what's your name?"

"...Seren."

"Hmm? That's a nice name! What are you doing in the woods?"

"..."

Ignoring the silence, Hakuto continued on, "it's fine if you don't want to answer, it's just... you look upset and my instincts immediately rears up and tells me to talk to you."

Which was true, Hakuto's "older brother instincts" had demanded he talked to the young woman, declaring itself that she needed some kind of talk to take her mind off... whatever's in it.

"We're here, thank you for helping us, Hakuto."

He scratched the back of his neck, "it's fine, Seren-san, hope we meet again!"

The sun was setting as two royals went their separate ways, one to a shining building in a city, and another to a dinghy cave in the woods.

* * *

_"Hey, there he is!"_

_"Hakuto!"_

_"Where were you?"_

_"I took a walk, and ate outside, since today's my day off."_

_"Oh, tell us stuff like this, Ja'far was freaking out!"_

_"No I wasn't, buzz off!"_

* * *

Hakuto spent the next few weeks helping the Seren and Drakon. He found out that they were surviving on labor, and immediately set out to change that.

Since Drakon has asked that he kept their existence a secret, Hakuto couldn't introduce them to the company, instead he decided to help them by spending his days off finding better jobs for them.

"This isn't the best but... the cafe offers a morning shift that's five hours and six days a week," Hakuto said as he spoke to Seren and her friends, Sahel and Tamira, gesturing towards the cafe entrance they were standing in front of. "The pay's not the best, but the conditions are definitely better than a restaurant dishwasher."

"Thank you, Hakuto. You... You really helped us a lot." Seren said, clinching her fists together, shaking, "if-if you hadn't helped us, we would've—we would've..."

During his time with them, Hakuto found them likable and built good relationships with them, especially the closed-off Seren.

Hakuto grasped the woman's shoulders, "it's fine, this is only a temporary job, I'll be sure to find you guys a proper, good paying one, _then_ you can thank me, yeah?"

Seren nodded quietly, heading into the small cafe with Tamira. Sahel, however, stayed behind, looking at the man who has helped them instead of driving them off when he saw their struggles. She didn't want to burden him more but...

"Hakuto-san," she said, turning towards the man, who smiled kindly at her, "can I ask a favor of you...?"

"A favor?" Hakuto grinned, "what do you mean? I don't do favors for friends, ask away!"

Smiling with relief, she asked, "can you... bring us to the Sindria Trading Company?"

* * *

The next day, Hakuto took a hour off work, although Ja'far wasn't happy, he understood his reasoning when the Prince mentioned that he had to help someone, and that he'll return soon.

The meeting place was where Seren had first dropped off Hakuto when they first met. When Hakuto arrived, he found Seren and Tamira waiting for him, confused, while Drakon and Sahel gazed at him with grim looks.

"Hey, guys! Nice of you to show early!"

Seren pinned her confused eyes at him, "where are we going... Hakuto?"

"Oh, they didn't tell you?" At Drakon and Sahel's panicked look, he figured that they didn't want Seren to know where they're going, "I'm showing you guys my work place, no better place to work than there!"

"I thought we said..."

"No, no, don't worry, Drakon had reassured me that it's fine to bring him there."

The reptilian creature grabbed Seren's shoulder, whispering something.

_("Princess, this is for our own good, I swear.")_

Seren nodded, hesitant. "Alright, let's hurry than."

"Right!" Hakuto beamed, "I only took an hour off afterall, don't want to get scolded by Ja'far for 'slacking.'"

If Hakuto saw Drakon flinch at the mentioned name, he didn't say anything.

* * *

"I'm back! Sin, there's someone who wants to meet you!" Hakuto's voice rang loudly through the bustling halls, someone went upstairs to Sinbad's office to fetch the man. As a woman walked by, she dropped some of her scrolls, to which Drakon had instinctively gone to pick up for her, his hood accidentally falling off as he bent down.

The woman screamed loudly at the scaly face in front of him. Hakuto had crouched down to comfort her, "hey, Tassia, it's fine, don't worry, he means no harm, he was just trying to help."

It didn't seem to do much as the woman continued shaking, stuttering, "m-monster... mon-monster..."

"What's going on here?" Sinbad's loud voice gathered attention as Tassia scrambled away from Drakon, absolutely terrified. "The company's closed to public today."

Hearing the voice, Hakuto turned to his friend and master, "Sin! Drakon here said he needed to talk to you—"

The Kou native was interrupted to Seren slamming her hands on top of a table, "to bring us here without telling me..."

She glared up at Sinbad, "I won't approve of that man!"

"Princess!"

Ignoring Drakon, Seren continued her rant, "That man... That man... He's a traitor! He's also the man who humiliated me..."

Surprised by the turn of event, Hakuto immediately turned to Sinbad, "hey Sin, don't tell me... she's your ex."

"No!"

"Like hell!"

The immediate reply had Hakuto backing off as he shrugged, muttering, "knowing you, it might've happened."

"He's my bitter enemy!" Taking her hood off, she declared boldly at Sinbad, "to appear before my enemy like this... is truly disgraceful!"

Taking her hand and placing it on her chest, she loudly declared, "I am the First Imperial Princess of the Parthevia Empire, Serendine!"

_"What?!"_ Hakuto was getting more and more confused by the letter, "you—she-! Princ— _what?!_ "

Before Sinbad could say anything, Drakon prostrated in front of Sinbad, "Please... Sinbad... Please help us!"

"Wait, you're..." Sinbad looked closely at the reptilian man's eyes, before he took a closer inspection of his earring, " _Drakon?!_ "

* * *

"What is going _on?_ " Hakuto walked next to Mystras, who had found him in the mess hall, looking for a drink. "First I find people getting hunted by human traffickers, then I find out that they're actually royalty were driven out of their country!"

Mystras chuckled awkwardly, "rough month, huh?"

"No kidding!" The alcohol had loosened the Prince's usually polite mouth, "my head feels like someone's launching strength magic in it!"

"I'm pretty sure that's just the drinks you've had..."

"Gah, whatever. I'm too drunk for this, I'll head up and sleep for now, Mystras."

Waving his friend goodbye, Mystras turned the corner, muttering, "Isn't he going to be too hungover to work tomorrow?"

Nevermind Ja'far's irritation at one of the most efficient and responsible worker drinking during a work night.

* * *

Hakuto groaned as he walked towards the shared latrine. Feeling sick as his brain seemed to pound at his head, ready to split his skull open. _I probably shouldn't have drank so much..._

It was late at night and Hakuto had woken up when the sudden need to puke struck him as he laid in bed. _I hate hangovers..._

As he walked by one of the rooms, he saw Seren— _no, Princess Serendine, Hakuto you dumbass—_ leaning against the door.

"Sere—Uh, Princess Serendine? Is something wrong?" The Princess startled at the sudden address. Looking up, she glanced away from Hakuto as he gazed at her with concern.

"...did you know?"

"You mean Sinbad's relationship with you? No."

"Then why?"

"...because Drakon asked me to."

* * *

The next day had Sinbad asking Hakuto for a favor.

" _What?!_ "

"Please, Hakuto!" Sinbad clasped his hands together in a pleading action, "you're the only one with even a slightly positive relationship with the Princess!"

"B-But what about my work? I spent yesterday off so I have a lot to finish today!"

"Don't worry, I've got you covered!"

"...you didn't even finish your own work, Sin."

"Aaargh, I'll have Ja'far do it! Just please!"

"...alright, I'll bring Princess Serendine out for a 'walk.'"

"Yes! Thanks, To!"

* * *

"Umm... I've actually never really seen much of Reim either, believe it or not!" Hakuto laughed awkwardly as Serendine looked at him blankly. Seeing his failed attempt at cheering her up, he sighed, "alright, what do you want to do, Sere—Princess Serendine?"

"Seren."

"What?"

"...you can continue calling me Seren."

"Are you sure? It's... not proper for someone like me."

"You are a Prince, are you not?"

"...yeah, alright! Let's keep going, Seren-san."

As they were walking by an alley, a loud, "Release me this instant!" sounded.

As they turned, they saw a red haired girl, maybe seven years old, fending off a man with a magic tool, which had ensnared her in a dark chain.

Nodding at the woman next to him, Hakuto walked up to the man.

"Hey!" He called out to the man, "abducting citizens of Reim for slavery is illegal, you know that right?"

"Haaah?" The man drawled, turning around so Hakuto could see the cigar in his mouth, "what's it to you, kid?"

"I'm just saying," Hakuto said calmly, "that maybe you shouldn't break the law in broad daylight."

The man snarled, "Hah! What are you, three? The people of the coliseum can't care less where the fighters come from—as long as they get their fight!"

_The Coliseum again? What the hell is wrong with this country?_

"Maybe..." Hakuto said, "but is it such a good idea to take the girl? How much do you want for her?"

If it had been any other situation, Hakuto would've chopped his hands off with his spear, sadly, they were in the city where amputation without consent is probably illegal. The man probably knew this too, because he sneered.

"Heh, any other capture and I might've taken your offer, 'nfortunately, the people want to see if a Fanalis can beat the King of the Coliseum, blood y'know?" He grunted as the girl tried to struggle, "stop movin' brat!"

Just as the man was raising his hand, to strike the girl no doubt, Hakuto lunges forward and grasped his wrist with his hand. Twisting, he gave the man a 'suggestion,' "how about this: you let me into the coliseum first to fight this 'King of the Coliseum,' a warm up, if I die, send her in, if I win..."

He twisted the man's arm harder, causing him to cry out in pain, "then both of us go free."

"Gah! Alright, Alright! I got it, I'll throw you in first, geez, never seen anyone volunteer to go to the coliseum before."

Serendine watched worriedly as Hakuto was cuffed with some chains and led to the coliseum. Noticing her look, Hakuto grinned and nodded at her, "I'll be alright, watch my guandao, alright?"

Silently, Serendine watched as her friend(?) was thrown into the glorified fighting arena known as the coliseum.

* * *

Hakuto cursed his own stupidity as he was walked to a temporary holding cell.

_Why'd I have to step in? Am I an idiot?!_

"Um... Mister?" A small voice squeaked as the red haired girl who was captured walked closer to him. Hakuto patted her head, "hey, it's fine, alright? I'll get you out of here, okay?"

The girl nodded, she looked up at him, her red eyes glinting with tears, "Mm! Brother would definitely save both of us!"

Hakuto smiled weakly, if her brother was another Fanalis, then the only way he won't be captured was if he was a high ranking aristocrat or something. Still... "Yeah! I'm sure he'll save us!"

The man in charge of the coliseums snorted, "Hah! Gud goin'! Tha'll just mean 'nothr Fanalis ta throw in there!"

Hakuto glared at the man, holding the Fanalis girl's arm, he smiled, "you believe in your brother, right?"

"Mm!"

"Then believe that he'll find you! You're his precious sister afterall!"

"Time for ya ta go, brat!" The man called, two soldiers snatched his chains and pushing him towards the arena.

"Hey, can I use a bow instead of this sword?" Hakuto asked as one of the guards handed him the standard sword. The guard was going to shake his head, but the man in charge laughed, "bah! Let him use da bow, ain't gunna do shit ta his 'pponent anyways!"

The guards silently brought out a shabby wooden bow and a quiver with ten arrows. The man grunted, "dat's all yer gunna git."

Testing the arrow tips, Hakuto winced when the flint drew blood, _at least it **can** draw blood. _

Before he could say anything, the guards pushed him into the arena, loud cheering was heard on all side, Hakuto could hear the announcer in the background.

_"And here we are, the first sacrifice to our Coliseum's King, his name? Hakuto!"_

The brief introduction caused the crowd to scream, in the audience, Hakuto caught the pink hair that belonged to only one person she knew. _Seren-san?!_

_"And the main attraction, the reason why I'm sure your all gathered here, I present to you, the arrogant King of the Coliseum, Havic!"_

A loud roar sounded as a lion the size of an elephant stepped into the arena, the blood on his jaws shows that whichever guard had taken off his muzzle had been met with the sight of his stomach in a second. The lion's fur shined golden and despite it's hungry gaze, it was definitely not starved.

_"This lion's fur is a hardened layer of steel! An impenetrable fur coat! Will Hakuto triumph over this creature? Or will this man eating lion have its new meal?"_

The lion roared and distantly, Hakuto can hear the crowd's call, _"Kill! Kill! Kill!"_

_"Eat him!"_

_"No! I want to see his guts!"_

_"Blood! Blood!"_

_Wow,_ Hakuto thought with fervent sarcasm, _thanks for the vote of confidence._

The lion was clearly not waiting for a signal, it pounded immediately, Hakuto jumping to the left as it snarled, slashing its claws down, hard. Hakuto rolled and quickly scrambled to his feet, readying the bow and releasing the arrow, it was headed straight for the chest—

_Clang!_

The arrow bounced off the lion with a loud, steel-like sound, Hakuto grimaced as the lion turned swiftly towards him, _guess I know why the guy was fine with giving me a bow._

Glancing at his quiver, Hakuto twitched, he wasted an arrow.

_Well,_ he thought, crouching under the lion as it jumped, _nine more to go._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooo! With the quarantine, I've got a lot of free time so... I update quicker! (Not that the quarantine is good)
> 
> Also... the Lion's based off the Nemean Lion, if you didn't know. Any guesses on who the Fanalis girl is? Maybe she's and Oc maybe she's not. Who knows?(I do but you don't. ;))
> 
> With COVID-19 going on, hope everyone keeps safe, wash your hands and don't catch the virus!
> 
> Is the plot moving too fast? I'm open for suggestions especially since I feel like this chapter could probably do some improvements.
> 
> Why didn't the guards show up right after Serendine and the others show up? Because I need this coliseum event first. So blame plot.


	10. The Ninth Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! The Slave Arc is getting pushed back by a chapter or two, because I wanted to add in this arc! Despite the chapter falling short, only two thousand something words, I really like how it turned out!
> 
> I've added a profile at the end for what we know about Hakuto so far, so check that out!

The Prince was a dazzling presence.

Kouen still remembers the day he first met him: a child of only ten, with his bow in hand and participating in a hunting festival. The trial of manhood.

He still remembered thinking, _why is he here? He already fought in the war, he should already **be** qualified for manhood. _

But as it turned out, Prince Hakuto had not joined the hunt for manhood, but rather for fun. He had taken up hunting as a hobby for his shooting, an idea brought up by his teacher, Feng Zhang.

He hadn't thought much about him then, and didn't really think much about him the following year. Why should he? Prince Hakuto is someone of much higher status than himself, the son of the Emperor's brother.

Kouen remember _vividly_ the moment when he first started looking at the Prince.

_That day._

That day, only a year after they met, Kouen saw the Prince kill. Rather ruthlessly and carelessly too. He saw a woman wrap her long, slender hands around the three month old toddler, and saw how an arrow had struck fast and true, slicing right through her neck.

Prince Hakuto had not noticed him, he was simply too absorbed with making sure his brother was unharmed, but Kouen saw it all, he saw the man's dedication to his family. He saw the man's selfishness, yet at the same time, his selflessness.

He saw how he had knowingly killed someone who might've had family, _for his family,_ and he saw how he had placed the heavy burden of murder on his then young shoulders.

He saw the Prince's willingness to dirty his hands for his family—something his brothers _couldn't do_ because of their shining, charismatic presence—and he acknowledged the Prince's right as an Emperor, he had respected the man's values and he had silently vowed to follow them.

_"Put your damn family first."_

That day, he had wordlessly pledged his loyalty, not to the Empire, not to the Emperor or the Crown Prince, but rather to the Third Imperial Prince of Kou.

* * *

Hakuto lurched forward as the lion lunges again, attempting to aim an arrow at its paws, grimacing as it simply bounces off. _Is it his fur that's impenetrable of his skin?_

Jumping away from the golden beast, Hakuto manipulated Magoi, willing it to coat the arrow his hand and released the projectile at the shining coat, cursing as it simply grazed the fur.

_That muscle layer is fucking hard._

He grunted as he rolled a few times, narrowly missing getting mauled by the lion's claws, he quickly notched an arrow and applied Magoi, shooting at the slightly softer looking belly, sliding out from under as the arrow successfully impaled the behemoth.

The lion _roared._ It roared loud and clear as the crowd went _nuts._

_"He might have a chance!"_

_"Ohhhh I'm rooting for you!"_

_"Let's go! Spill some blood!"_

Looking at the lion's fierce irises, Hakuto doubt it would let him do it again. _The arrow wound wasn't even that deep._

"Gah, shut up, damn it!" He muttered under his breathe as he shot another arrow, this time aiming straight at the lion's face, the enraged feline snarled as it snapped the arrow in two. Hakuto grinned, sweat dropping from his temple, "won't work, huh?"

Checking his quiver, Hakuto winced, _only five more._

During his distraction, the lion had ripped up the earth on the ground, attempting to lob the clumps of dirt at Hakuto, who rolled out of the way, using his bow to knock some rocks out of the way, he lunged forward, aiming an arrow right at the lion's eye, the lion cliched back, Hakuto used this distraction and quickly shot another arrow at the exposed neck, gritting his teeth as the lion swiped at him, sending him straight towards the wall.

The lion was barely hindered by the arrow lodged in his neck, seemingly unconcerned by the blood pouring from the wound. Looking at its neck, Hakuto couldn't help but remember _that day._

_(Blood pouring from the neck as the woman choked, how ironic, since that was how she attempted to kill him—)_

Shaking the thought away, Hakuto mentally slapped himself, _focus!_

Crying out loud, Hakuto jumped, _over_ the lion and flipped agilely in the air, notching an arrow and shooting at the lion's upper spine, landing on the furry back, grabbing onto the arrow lodged snugly on the fur as the lion immediately attempted to shake him off. He gripped the arrow tightly as the lion moved, deepening the arrow wound on its own as it tossed its head, _still not fucking_ ** _deep enough!_**

Hakuto screamed internally when the lion smashed its own back against the wall, successfully knocking Hakuto off, although it also caused the arrow to get lodged deeper.

Breathing deeply, Hakuto wiped blood from the corner of his mouth as the lion finally successfully leapt onto him, grimacing at the taste of blood on his tongue.

_Damn it! Is this how I die? Well dying in a Coliseum ain't all bad..._

As he watched the leering face of the feline in his face, Hakuto heard, distantly, the announcer,

_"Looks like the man, Hakuto, does not make it! Get ready folks, because the next opponent we have for Havic will bring out a truly ferocious battle!"_

_Oi, oi, are they seriously just going to disregard me?_

Looking at the blood dripping out of the lion's throat, Hakuto reminisced about that day. When he first killed. He remembered what he said, the words he uttered on a whim that ended up becoming something he lived by.

_"Put your damn family first!"_

Ahh, was it really that long ago, when he said that? What would Father think, of him dying like this. Hakuto swears that he could hear Hakuren.

_"What? Can't even beat a cat to save a little girl? That's lame, Kuto!"_

Hakuto twitched, he grabbed the bow given to him and notched an arrow straight at the lion's open mouth.

_"LIKE HELL I'LL GET KILLED BY A CAT, FUCK YOU HAKUREN!"_

A surge of unknown energy coated him, no, it coated the arrow, but it came from him, it felt similar to Magoi Manipulation, not really minding what is happening, he launched the arrow.

**_Household Vessel: Bararaq Makhlab_ **

Yelling loudly, Hakuto shut his eyes as the electric-coated arrow tore a hole straight through the lion's throat, the impact causing the behemoth to be thrown back.

Breathing heavily, Hakuto wiped the sweat from his temple as he heard the crowd roar in his ears. He stared at the glowing arm brace, the symbol of an eight-pointed star blazing boldly on the cool material.

_Huh, thanks Kouen. And Hakuren too, I guess._

It seemed it was too early to celebrate, however, as the last arrow was blown away by the impact of the blast, and the _lion was getting back up._

_What the fuck, how?_ Hakuto thought in disbelief as he stared at the scene in front of him. The lion's hard coat had prevented the arrow from leaving its throat, so although the arrow had torn a hole in the lion's lungs, the arrow had also prevented the lion's immediate death due to it slowing the blood flow that would inevitably suffocate the feline later on.

_Much_ later on.

Seeing as his last arrow had been flung to god knows where, Hakuto had only his instincts to go upon, he slid from the rubbles am caused by his Household Vessel (that's crazy!) and notched an invisible arrow.

How he knew to do that? Plot.

He felt a familiar flow of his Magoi, except now there was an exciting, jumpy touch to it, as he manipulated it to coat the air, releasing it right as the lion attempted to bite his head off, midair.

The lightning arrow flew straight into the previously lodge one, successfully shoving the solid arrow through the lion's ruined fur. Although the impact and power was evidently less than the solid arrow, it seemed that the Household Vessel did its work, as the massive feline fell over, dead.

_Hell yeah, take that Hakuren!_ Was his last thought as Hakuto fell backwards, unconscious.

* * *

Serendine Dikumenowlz Du Parthevia had seen the horrors of a Househol Vessel before. How could she not? It had ruined her best friend's body and left him a creature that all of society were afraid of.

Maybe that was why she felt cold terror grip her chest when she saw the man—her _savior—_ activate his. She gripped tightly on his spear, a _guandao_ , and ignored the loud hooting of the people who surround her, she could see the damage Hakuto had caused to the battlefield, and the injuries accumulated from his fight with the golden lion that now layed dead on its side.

She gulped as she watched him fall unconscious, watching the guards strap him onto a stretcher and carry him off. Watching, waiting to see if he too would transform into a creature of terror.

As the crowd dispersed, she headed towards the Coliseum entrance, sighing in relief when she saw that, somehow, Hakuto had already woken up.

He was bandaged all over and his left shoulder looked especially injured, likely from the impact of when the lion had slammed him into the wall. He was tossing a bag of golden coins at the man who had captured the little girl, said little girl was clinging onto his pants as he waved at Serendine, who rushed forward and did something she never thought she would do—

She _hugged_ him.

Wholeheartedly embraced him and buried her head into his bare chest, although it was mostly bandaged. Hesitantly, Hakuto gripped her back, fingers curling into her pink hair and her spine, whispering comfortingly, _"hey, I'm not dead, am I? Why're you crying, Seren-san?"_

Unable to answer, Serendine had simply buried her face deeper, because she had bee terrified that Hakuto—the person who had saved her and given her hope—would change and transform, just like Dragul did and become unrecognizable, she had been so _scared_ that he would've been dead down there, attempting to help a girl he didn't know.

_She had been so scared._

* * *

"So... I'll help this little girl find her brother, think you can go back and tell everyone what happened? They should be flipping the city upside down trying to find us by now." Hakuto awkwardly looked away from Serendine, slightly embarrassed by the impromptu hug and cry fest she had integrated when he had gotten out of the Coliseum.

Serendine was flushed as she looked at her feet, "y-yeah, I'll tell them, be careful though, you're still injured."

Grinning wildly, Hakuto ruffled the Fanalis girl's head, "nah, I'm sure—uh what's you name?"

The girl looked up, her eyes were shining with admiration. "Myron, Myron Alexius!"

"Yeah! I'm sure little Myron-chan's brother should be freaking out by now, don't worry, I won't take long." He grabbed Myron's hand as he walked across the street, "I'll be fine!"

As Serendine went out of view, Hakuto turned to the little girl holding his land, "So, Myron-chan, where do you live?"

Myron looked up at him, "I live in Remano, in the Alexius Manor!"

"... _what."_

* * *

"Myron!" A red haired man ran straight into the girl, kneeling on one leg. He looked to be about Sinbad's age, give or take a few months.

"Hey, uhhh... I'm guessing your Myron-chan's brother?" Hakuto scratched his neck awkwardly. The man nodded.

"Yes, I am Muu Alexius, thank you for finding my little sister, Myron didn't I tell you it's dangerous, what if you were captured by slave traders? They would love to find a child Fanalis roaming around!"

The girl chirped, "I _was,_ brother, and Hakuto-san here saved me by fighting in the Coliseum!"

_"What?!"_

Hakuto chuckled, "Yeah, Myron-chan was captured by slavers, it seemed, but she was very brave and said that her brother would definitely save her, good girl, this one."

Muu bowed low, "I'm sorry for the trouble, for you to get injured for her is... I'm truly sorry!"

"Hey, it's fine!" Waving off the apology, Hakuto bent down, ruffling the little girl's hair, "Everyone's safe in the end afterall!"

"Still!" Muu protested, "it would only be fair if we returned the favor,"

Before Hakuto could protest, he added, "Just a meal than, allow me to treat you to a meal as an apology, I'm sure Myron would love to see you again too!"

Looking at the Fanalis's earnest expression, Hakuto sighed, _how do you say no to a face like that?_

"Alright, one lunch, I'm free on Friday."

* * *

**Omake: "I've got you covered!"**

"Hey, Sin!" Ja'far called to the President, "why's there more work on my desk than usual?"

The purple haired man tensed, "ahaha, I don't know what you're talking about, Ja'far, are you hallucinating?"

"No... most of this stuff is on the trading process with Kou, too!" Ja'far flipped a few pages, "Isn't this the stud Hakuto usually deal with? Where's Hakuto?"

Sinbad gulped, "I-uhh-I have him doing something else for me today so I-uhh..."

"Something else? He already had yesterday's work to catch up on, Sin! You gave him a task despite knowing he already needed to do more work than usual today?!"

"That's why I gave it to you, cause I promised him that I've got him covered!"

"Covered my ass, get over here!"

**_Shing!_ **

"Ahh, he's gone back to his murderous, assassin self..." Hinahoho commented as he watched Sinbad run away from the former assassin.

"Mercy, Ja'far! Mercy!"

"Get over here, I've got _you_ covered, in blood!"

"GAHHHHH!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect the Household Vessel? Didn't expect the little Fanalis girl to be Myron Alexius (she's only seven years old right now!)? Are any of these plot twists or did you guys expect them?
> 
> As for his Household Vessel, It gives him the ability to coat things with the electric power, arrows, air, who knows what else? Since he uses so many weapons, I had difficulty choosing which one could be a vessel and settled for the armbrace Kouen and Koumei gave him, so he can use it with multiple weapons. What else can it do? We'll just have to explore, won't we?
> 
> Didn't expect the little ten year fiasco to be important didya? Go ahead and reread the first chapter: I made sure to be extra vague on that year.
> 
> Profile:
> 
> Name: Hakuto
> 
> Age: 14(currently)
> 
> Birthday: Unknown
> 
> Height: 165 cm (five feet five inches) (pretty darn tall)
> 
> Appearance: Has wide eyes like Hakuren and Hakuryuu and Hakuei, hairstyle is a bit more like Hakuyuu, although less neat, shorter, and more windswept
> 
> Used Weapons: Bow and arrow, Guandao(spear)
> 
> Facts:
> 
> -known hobbies include: sharpening blades, making arrows, hunting, collecting different cultural books for Kouen, writing letters back home
> 
> -quotes he live by(known):
> 
> "Only fight to protect, Hakuto, never to gain."—Ren Hakutoku
> 
> "Put your damn family first!"—Ren Hakuto


	11. The Tenth Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I ever explained this but Hakuto's name is written as '白斗' with '白' meaning 'Haku' and '斗' meaning 'to'. The '斗' means fighting or fight individually in Chinese but when you put '白斗' in Japanese together, it becomes '白户' when translated to Chinese, and '户' means 'household' at least according to google translate. So Hakuto's name can be either 'White Fighter' or 'White Household'

Hakuto ended up not only having lunch with Muu, but dinner as well. Not for any unconventional reason but, well...

* * *

**_After lunchtime with Muu and Myron..._ **

"That was a good meal!" Hakuto complimented the Fanalis's choice of restaurant. "I've only been in Napolia for a few weeks but this is undoubtedly the best restaurant I've eaten in!"

Muu smiled, relieved that he was happy, "is that so? I'm glad you think so, it's Myron's favorite too, I take her there if I have time, whenever we visit Napolia."

"Oh yeah," Hakuto remembered what Myron said, "you guys live in Remano, right?"

Muu nodded, "Yes, the Alexius Family is a prestigious line of soldiers that dates back to the beginning of Reim two hundred years ago, all the way to the founder of this empire, Pernadius Alexius!"

"Heh~ you look quite proud of that," Hakuto grinned amusedly. "Guess that Pernadius fellow is really powerful, huh?"

"Ye—"

**_SMASH!_ **

"Outta my way, idiots!" A blur of red darted last the trio, followed by a pot bellied slave trader, who screeched loudly as he waved around what must've been his magic tool.

"He's tryin' to escape! Somebody, catch him!"

"Oi, oi, Muu, that looked like..." Hakuto remembered the flash of bright red, non doubt about it, _three Fanalis in two days?_

Muu gritted his teeth, he turned to Hakuto, "Hakuto, I'll chase after him, if you can... subdue the slave trader..."

Hakuto grinned, "that's fine, I've been wanting to try out my Household Vessel for real now, anyways. Go ahead, I've got the Santa."

Nodding in thanks, Muu took off, Myron on his back as he turned the corner that the other Fanalis had also turned. The fat slave trader finally pulled to a stop when he saw Hakuto blocking his path.

"Oi! Get out of ma way! Don't you know how expensive Fanalis slaves are? If ya don't move," he aimed the tool in his arm at him, "I'll shoot ya out of ma way!"

An orange burst of light was brought forth as it beamed towards Hakuto, who leapt up and out of the way. Grinning, he raised his wrist, "I just want a little work out, and since you attacked me first..."

**_Bararaq Makhlab!_ **

"—I won't get in trouble for self-defense, right?!"

Since he had decided to go weaponless that day (who brings weapons on a lunch date with friends?), Hakuto coated his fist with the electrifying Magoi, dodging another attempt at sniping him from the Slave Trader, he spun around and threw his fist forward, sending the trader straight-back as the impact from the power-uped punch sent a strong blast of wind, throwing anyone in close proximity off their feet as the fat man was sent flying, howling as he hit the wall.

Brushing himself off, Hakuto sighed as he stared at the man's state, his face had been bodily-punched in, drool, snot, and blood all over his bald head as he lost consciousness. Despite the man's disgusting occupation, Hakuto couldn't help but grimace at the damage done to both the Slave Trader and the wall.

"Ugh, maybe I should figure out how to control the output first..." he looked at the fat man again, shaking his head as he went off to find Muu, "why is it always slave traders?"

As he was turning the corner, Hakuto ran into a bare chest, glancing up, he was surprised to see Muu, his toga torn to shreds, standing next to a man who looked his age, with Myron on his back, bickering with the man.

_"—shut up, you should be thankful my brother—"_

Seeing his look, Muu chuckled nervously, "it's a long story... you finished with the trader?"

"Yeah," he pointed towards the smoldering pile of fat behind him, "one punch was enough."

Muu smiled weakly before he sighed with frustration, "Hakuto, this is Lo'lo' he was the man who ran past us before."

Lo'lo' grunted, looking away from Hakuto as he said, "sorry 'bout that."

_"Hey! Apologize properly you brute—!"_

"I wish we didn't have to do this..."

Turning to Muu, Hakuto looked at him questioningly, "what do you mean?"

"It's just—" Muu gestured to the Slave Trader and Lo'lo, "people keep capturing and selling Fanalis, it's so... frustrating! They only see us as workforces or bodyguards, we're human too!"

Grinning at Muu, Hakuto clapped his hand on the Half-Fanalis's shoulder, "of its you, I'm sure you'll find a way, Fanalis would make great army men, don't you think? Like a special corps made for Fanalis, Lo'lo looks like he would enjoy something like that." He smiled at the fierce looking Fanalis, "I'm a bit hungry from all that running, how about dinner's on me?"

_He ended regretting it when Lo'lo ate his wallet dry._

_(Ja'far wasn't happy.)_

* * *

It was two weeks after the day spent with the Fanalis Trio, Muu and Myron has taken Lo'lo with them to Remano, the group having promised to keep in contact with hawks.

 _Speaking of hawks,_ Hakuto patted Jin's head, slipping the letter he wrote into the canteen, feeding the hawk a rat he had Kiba hunt for him before he sent him off, to send a letter to his family in the Eastern Continent. "Fly safe, I've got some fruits for you when you've return."

The screeching cry in the air indicated that the bird had heard him, loud and clear. Smiling, he looked down at Kiba at his heels, "let's get the day started, yeah?"

Barking happily, Kiba stood up and trotted to the door, waiting impatiently for Hakuto to open it. The wolf had been antsy these days, with good reason since Hakuto hadn't been able to take him on walks in the city, with the citizens likely to freak out at a giant canine while the Coliseum's suppliers would be hounding to get their hands on the massive wolf. Pun unintended.

"Hmm, maybe I can take you for a walk in the forest next week?" _Because I won't be getting any hunting done with a wolf this big by my side._ Kiba barked, licking Hakuto's fingers as he petted his nose. "Yeah, seems like a plan."

As he was eating breakfast with Mystras (Kiba was given a few strips of bacon), a loud noise at the front of the shop grabbed their attention. "What's the commotion about?" Mystras asked, grabbing a cloth to wipe his mouth, "especially so early in the morning."

The two rushed towards the front of the company, pausing when they saw Ja'far attempting to strangle one of the important workers—Vittel, was it?—with his darts, Hakuto quickly rushing forward to restrain him with his the help of his Household Vessel, wincing when he felt the surge of power coming from Ja'far's own vessel. "Ja'far! Calm down!"

"I see... so that's what happened," Hakuto looked down at the parchment in front of him, "there's no doubt about it, this company... the entire 'investment' was definitely set up." Hakuto pointed at a few points on the scroll.

"See, here." He moves his finger up, "Here." He shifted it to the left, "and here. These dates show a large amount of additions to the market on that _specific_ product. This company, Mariadel was very subtle about it, that's why Vittel didn't notice until the entire debt swelled to almost ten times the previous amount—in other words, they got us good."

"Sin! Let's bring this up to the merchant's guild! If we can prove that this investment was a scam, than the debt can be written off—"

"No, that's too slow."

"-huh?" Ja'far looked at the man in shock, Sinbad continued onwards.

"How long will it take to prove? By the time it's done, this company would've either been seized or our debt would've grown. We have no time... therefore—!" He grabbed his sword, equipping Baal in a flash, "I'm going to talk to the other party directly, tell me where to find them, Vittel!"

Vittel was staring in shock, Hakuto took that time to snatch Sinbad's tail, yanking him down as the President stared at him in surprise, "Hakuto—?!"

"Sinbad, no matter what, you _must_ make sure the debt is paid off today, if you go to the Company President of Mariadel, they will no doubt begin stocking the market with even _more_ products in order to increase the debt," Hakuto clenched his fist around the tail, causing Sinbad to flinch at the intense look in his eyes, "make sure they pay it _today_ or the Company will sink tomorrow! Make sure not to mention the contract, it will only gain support from the merchants, seeing as it will only make you seem more inexperienced."

Nodding at the Kou Native's words, Sinbad snatched his tail from Hakuto's hand, "I got it."

"The Company Head should be in R-Remano, for a merchant banquet."

 _Remano?_ Hakuto thought as Sinbad flew off, _maybe I should contact Muu..._

 _No,_ Hakuto shook his head, _it's a dispute between merchants, I shouldn't drag him into this._

_I just hope Sinbad won't make some kind of reckless decision..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, Kicking off into the slave arc! A nice little ending to the Gladiator arc, no Seren this chapter since she didn't appear in the Slave arc much and I don't want to change the flow of the conversation too much by including her in it. Short chapter, I know, but hey, Hakuto's going to start making some changes soon! (Hopefully)
> 
> The main reason why I added a mini arc was to a. Give Hakuto a Household Vessel and b. Introduce the Fanalis Corps' main trio to Hakuto and c. Give Hakuto some action in since the Manga hadn't really given me much chance to throw some in, it was mainly just Sinbad scaring the shit out of this king and then beating the hell out of this queen. (Not that I don't like it, I love badass, OP characters just fine.)


	12. The Eleventh Stone

"A sword fight with a gladiator in a coliseum? Are you sure this is wise?" Hakuto asked Sinbad as Ja'far snuck off to pack, the boy had requested that Hakuto held Sinbad off for as long as possible to give him time.

Sinbad nodded, "it's for the best, plus, I already signed the contract so it's not like I can back out now."

"That's true..." Hakuto looked away worriedly, "but surely you've realized that a coliseum fight entails that you fight without your Metal Vessels?"

"Relax, Hakuto, I'll be _fine,_ " Sinbad reassured the man.

"Hn. At least allow me to accompany you along with Ja'far then."

"You accompany me with— _Ja'far?!"_ Sinbad sputtered at the multiple implications that sentence offered. Hakuto nodded.

"Yes, Ja'far has already finished packing, I don't need to pack, not to mention I am quite interested in the opponent who will be chosen by Umm Maader to fight you, a renowned Dungeon Capturer." Hakuto whistled for Kiba, who leapt next to him, bag packed with his quiver, guandao, and bow. "I figured Kiba could use a walk, don't want him to grow fat by lack of exercise."

"Hakuto, we're _sailing."_

"Stick to being honest, Hakuto."

"Yeah, you suck at lying."

"...anyways, I will be accompanying you, let's go."

"He just changed the subject?!"

"Oi, don't decide things like that by yourself!"

"Hmph, for you to be kidnapped by a _female_ merchant, isn't that just like you and your company?" The feminine voice caused the group to turn towards Serendine, who had walked out from the shadow. "In fact, looking at that lewd face, she probably seduced you into it, didn't she?"

...

"Oi Sin, don't tell me she guessed right."

"Wha— _no!_ What is wrong with you, Hakuto! You always seem to immediately assume that I did something when girls are involved!"

"It just seems very likely... is all."

" _Oi!_ "

Sinbad turned to Serendine, "my lady, don't tell me... your _jealous?_ "

The princess flushed at the close proximity, before she huffed, "I'm not worried about you, if anything, I'm more concerned about..." she walked past Sinbad, moving towards the surprised Prince who was watching the scene, Serendine looked up at Hakuto, "b-be careful, alright?"

Hakuto looked confused at the sudden plead, "...Ah... yes, Seren-san." He reaches out his hand and patted her head, slowly.

In the background, the group laughed at Sinbad's dumbstruck face, said merchant turned towards Drakon. "Are they a thing?" He asked.

Drakon looked faintly amused, watching the pair with fondness before answering, "No, although the Princess was quite fond of Hakuto—ever since they met, even. The Princess appreciated Hakuto's polite attitude and honesty."

" _Hah!_ Sinbad, you got rejected for Prince Charming!" Hinahoho laughed loudly as he watched the proceedings, Ja'far and Vittel trying hard (not!) to hide their snickering.

After saying their farewells, the trio (with a dog) set off towards the ship that will bring them to Ria Venus Island.

* * *

**_Three days later..._ **

"So this is the headquarters of Mariadel Company... Ria Venus Island!"

Hakuto whistled, impressed, "Very fulfilling—would make a perfect tourist attraction."

"Ria Venus Island, one of the main location of trade owned by the prominent and powerful families of the Mariadel Company..."

Hakuto grabbed Kiba's custom-made saddle and headed off to a food stall, taking out some coins to pay for two kibabs, feeding one to the wolf as he bit down on the salted meat. By the time he wandered back to Ja'far, the white haired kid had managed to beat Sinbad up for somehow winning ten rounds of casino games while he was reciting facts on the island they were on.

"Please remember that we're not here to sight-see—Hakuto!"

Sinbad looked at the half-eaten stick the man was holding, "ohhhhh... where'd you buy that, Hakuto?"

* * *

The gates to the arena was guarded by soldiers, Sinbad turned around, "from this point on, it's gladiators only," the man handed his sword to Ja'far, "after that stunt Hakuto played with his Household Vessel, we're now required to use the clothing provided by the coliseum too... well, now I'm a regular guy without metal vessels, just like everyone else!"

Hakuto sighed, as they were leaving, he suddenly thought of something. Turning around, he clasped his hand together and bowed his head, "We will await your return, Master Sin."

Sinbad smiled, "Yeah."

The two subordinates headed towards the arena's audience seat, Hakuto noted the lack of energy in his Magoi, which had been always present since he became Baal's household member, "it seems our Household Vessels have ceased to work now that Baal is separated from Sinbad."

As the boy announced Sinbad's opponent, Hakuto's breathe hitched when he saw the signature red hair of a certain race... _No way, it can't be—!_

Noticing his companion's pale face, a Ja'far looked at Hakuto worriedly, "hey, Hakuto, what's wrong?"

"We..." Hakuto stood up abruptly, _"We need to stop this match!"_

"Whoa—! Hakuto, calm down!" Ja'far brought Hakuto back down into his seat, "Do you know that kid or something?"

"No..." Hakuto gritted his teeth, "Not personally but, that kid—he's a _Fanalis!_ There's no way Sin can defeat the kid, _especially_ without his Metal Vessels!"

"Hey, I thought you had more faith in Sin than that, he'll win, you'll see."

Hakuto gulped, "y-yeah, I guess so."

_He's Sinbad, why am I so worried? Get a grip, Hakuto!_

He had just calmed down when he saw Sinbad dodge the sword strike and attempt to get close, ready to attack, when the Fanalis boy, Masrur, struck out with a punch and bodily punched Sinbad in the ribs. For a moment, the arena was silent, Ja'far's eyes were wide open in shock, Hakuto hoped that Sinbad would somehow pull through, defeat the enemy. But that hope was quickly ruined when the purple haired man fell over.

Eyes wide, the two quickly left the audience, ignoring all the disappointed grumbles that filled the air, they made their way to the back entrance, where guards had held them off, clenching his fist around his pole arm, Hakuto watched as Ja'far accused Maader of pre-arranging Sinbad's defeat, trying to restrain himself from attacking the woman. Behind him, he could hear a menacing growl escape from Kiba as the wolf crouched, forced to sit as Hakuto gripped tightly on his reigns.

"Hmm? If you don't believe it, why don't you hear it from the man himself?" Maader waved her hands as guards brought forth Sinbad, accompanied by the clinking of chains, looking at his injuries, Hakuto cried out for the first time, " _Sin—!"_

"Ja'far, Hakuto... stop... it was my... loss." The normally energetic man looked exhausted, most likely from taking a punch from a Fanalis.

"Sin..." Looking at the man's eyes, Hakuto could tell that he hadn't given up on getting out of Maader's slavery. Nodding at his master, Hakuto grabbed Ja'far and hauled him onto Kiba before climbing on himself, shooting Sinbad a meaningful look. _'You better not give up,'_ he sent through his gaze, _'you better be just fine the next time we see you.'_

Hakuto turned and gave the detested _(lying, cheating, dirty little scumbag—!)_ woman a nod, not of respect, but of dismissal. His royal attitude leaking out of his aura, _'you are dismissed, now get out of my face before I execute you.'_

Without even needing to be prompted, Kiba began walking, heading towards the direction he knew was the port, where he has smelled the smell of salty wind and sea spray mixed with the familiar wood and fresh products.

"Hakuto..." the man turned behind him, giving Ja'far a silent prompting to continue, "we... we're going to rescue Sin, right?"

Softening at the insecure, childlike tone, Hakuto smiled warmly, raising his calloused hands, he ruffled the kid's (because that's what he was, a _kid_ who never got to act his age) hair and asked him, "Do you even need to ask that question? Sindria isn't Sindria without our boss, you heard me before, right? I didn't join this group to see my master get killed—we're going to rescue him and kill him ourselves!"

Ja'far grinned, "right! That reckless fool, he's going to get it when he comes back!"

Smiling as he watched Ja'far cheer up, Hakuto watched as the port came into sight. _He'll come back, we'll **make** him. _

* * *

"Sinbad became a slave?!"

Head bowed, Hakuto nodded, he had sent Ja'far to get cleaned up since he had been quite upset about the fiasco, before gathering the company members and telling them what had happened on Ria Venus Island. "That's right, he was defeated in the arena and... as the contract stated, he became a slave for Mariadel Company."

Looking up, Hakuto almost wished he hadn't told them, Vittel looked absolutely devastated, Hinahoho was in a shocked state and the rest of the company were whispering quite frantically.

_"What's going to happen now?"_

_"How's the company going to keep going without its leader?"_

"I'm going to bring him back..." Ja'far's quiet voice was heard by the doorway as he stepped into the room, freshly washed and with new clothes. "Sin entrusted things in me... no matter what it'll take, I'll free him."

"Oi, oi, Ja'far, don't go running into things, do you have a plan?" Hinahoho snapped out of his shock as he heard Ja'far's words. Ja'far shook his head, "no, but I'll come up with something."

"Don't." Hakuto came up behind him, gripping his shoulders to prevent him from leaving, "losing your calm is the last thing you should do right now, you know that, Ja'far."

"I _am_ calm! But there isn't any time!" Ja'far exclaimed.

"Still," Vittel protested, "you shouldn't just jump into things!"

"Everyone, stop arguing." A firm voice cut through the tense air as everyone turned towards the door. A tall woman—much taller than Hinahoho, even—stood there, her hair was blue as she looked at the company employees calmly.

Ja'far was the first to speak, "Rurumu-san!" The shock was quite evident in his voice, "I thought you were away giving birth—!"

"Ja'far..." The blue haired woman looked down at the boy, "what was that just now? I'm sure I've taught you that no matter the situation, you must take the time to calmly plan a course of action."

Hakuto smiled cheerily at Ja'far, "I already told you, Ja'far, when we get Sin back, we're gonna beat him up for acting so reckless, didn't I say that? Calm down, I doubt Sin will give up so easily." Turning to the woman who took control of the room, Hakuto clasped his hands together and greeted her with a respectful nod, "you must be the esteemed Rurumu-san I've heard so much about, it is a honor to meet you, I am a diplomat from the Kou Empire, the Third Prince, Ren Hakuto."

Rurumu smiled warmly at the Prince, "it is a honor to meet you, Prince Hakuto, I hope we get along."

"Wow, the little guy really grew, huh?" A chipper voice said as another large woman stepped out from behind Rurumu, waving a hand as the boy on her shoulders did the same. "Long time no see!"

"P-Pipirika?!"

"Why are you here?!" Ja'far yelled loudly, the girl grinned, "this place is full of guys right? So I came along to help look after the kids!"

Hinahoho walked forward, "K-Kids?" Pipirika smiled, "yeah, they were born without a problem, brother... or should I say 'daddy,' come look at your new twin daughters!"

The smile on Hinahoho's face was enough for everyone to forget their problem for a brief moment. Although it wasn't long before they had gotten back to business. "I understand," Rurumu said as Vittel started crying again, "don't hang your head, Vittel, what's been done has already happened, it was partly my fault for leaving you to look after things alone."

Looking at the group in front of her, Rurumu raised her voice so all the Company workers could hear her, "Let's devote all our energy to figure out a way to rescue Lord Sinbad. Ja'far, Prince Hakuto, you were the last ones to see him, what did Lord Sinbad say?"

"Sin didn't say anything but the look in his eyes... he hasn't given up yet." Ja'far replied, Hakuto nodding along, feeling relieved that Ja'far had also seen the look and he hadn't been delusional when he saw Sinbad's eyes.

"We're a small organization, who are in this situation due to the debt and contracts set with Mariadel Trading Company. We have no real assets, even if we appeal to outside help, ultimately it's still a dispute between merchants. Merchants must settle disputes amongst themselves, as we are now, we have no way to do that..." Ja'far took a breathe after finishing his line of thoughts, his concern was radiating off his body like waves. Rurumu was deep in thought, patting her daughters' back as they began fussing around.

"I understand where you're coming from, but Ja'far, are you not mistaken?" The woman continued her sentence as Ja'far uttered a confused "huh?" from her question, "Sindria is a new company, with little experience and limited support, if that's the case, then shouldn't it be natural that we relie on outside forces? The King of Balbadd, for example, King Rashid's guidance was a crucial part of how we were able to establish this company, in a way, he is our benefactor."

The Imuchakk Princess paused to let everyone think on her statement. "I see..." Hakuto looked up in realization, understanding what Rurumu had been suggesting. "King Rashid is an important figure, I heard from my father that, with his head for business, he managed to turn Balbadd into a prosperous Country of maritime trade in a single generation. With his knowledge, it he will surely aid us in this merchants' battle if he finds out that his friend, Sinbad is in danger."

Rurumu smiled as she nodded, "Indeed, Prince Hakuto, you seem to understand this situation rather well, I will ask that you accompany Ja'far to his talk with King Rashid."

"What are we waiting for? Let's get to Balbadd as fast as possible then!" Ja'far began to rush off to prepare for the travel before Rurumu reaches out and grabbed his head, stopping him from leaving the building. "How many times have I told you not to be rash, Ja'far. Why do you think I suggested King Rashid? That's because it is 'now.'"

Hakuto looked at the temporary president, "are you referring to the World Leaders Assembly held in Remano, Rurumu-san? My father could not attend due to complications in the Country, but he mentioned it in his previous letter."

Rurumu nodded, "indeed, the world leader assembly is in Remano, King Rashid would be there, so there is no reason to go to Balbadd, Ja'far, here's a letter of introduction, be polite, you two."

Gripping the scroll tightly, Ja'far nodded firmly as he joined Hakuto, who had saddled Kiba up for speed, discarding all the unnecessary baggage, leaving him only with his weapons.

"You ready?" Hakuto asked Ja'far.

The boy nodded.

"Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be speeding through things a little...
> 
> I don't know what I did with Serendine, might've made her a bit OOC but she deserves some love that's not from Drakon or her handmaidens. The whole Seren and Hakuto relationship was pretty last minute but I kind of like it...? It's kinda cute not gonna lie.


	13. The Twelfth Stone

"King Rashid really didn't give any hints?" Mystras looked worried as he and Hakuto walked towards the executive meeting room that Rurumu had summoned them to. Hakuto sighed, shaking his head, "I am a little loss with his words, but hopefully Rurumu-san will decipher any hidden meetings."

As they entered the room, they could see Parsine waving at them, Rurumu beckoning them to join the conversation as Ja'far and Vittel discussed ways to take down Mariadel.

"If we could interfere with the commodity that brings in the majority of their profit—that being slaves—we might just have a chance..." Ja'far shook his head as Hinahoho declared, "we're not dealing with slave trafficking!"

Rurumu also disagreed, "The slave market isn't something we specialize in, even if we try to make some kind of deal, the other party will know we are lying."

On the side, Mystras and Parsine looked on with awkward interest as the company executives argue amongst themselves. "There really isn't much we can do, huh?"

"We're just diplomats afterall."

"Actually..." Hakuto spoke up when he heard the topic of slaves, "Kou allows slaves, it's mainly to boister the economy during war, although the policies are that the maximum time a slave has to serve is four years."

"I see..."

"How's that going to help though? We're still not doing trafficking!"

The group fell silent as they each thought of different ways to deal with the situation.

Vittel messes up his hair with frustration, "Ahhh! If only Sinbad is here!"

_"Vittel!"_ Ja'far hissed at his companion. The man froze up, "b-but it's true! The company only went this far because we have the trust of Sinbad the Dungeon Capturer!"

Ja'far stopped at those words, he looked like he was contemplating something. Hakuto shushed Vittel as he was crying, watching Ja'far closely. Finally, the young boy looked up, smiling with determination, "Everyone... I have a plan."

* * *

Hakuto was walking towards the garden, the day had been long and his arms had hurt from the preparations and letters he had written in order to initiate Ja'far's plan. When he had finally finished, he figured a walk in the garden will clear up his muddled mind.

"You... look well." Turning around at the feminine voice, Hakuto smiled warmly at Serendine. "Seren-san! I haven't seen you in awhile." Seeing the shy look on the Princess's face, Hakuto invited her on a walk. "How about you walk along with me? We should catch up!"

"How has the company been treating you?" Hakuto asked, genuinely curious with everyone's reaction to a Parthevian Princess working with them.

Serendine smiles up at the taller man, "Everyone is very kind, I'm glad to be working here."

"Hm? That's good then, I'm glad that you are enjoying your time here."

"Yes."

As they continued their walk through the garden, there were several times when Serendine looked like she was going to talk, her mouth opening for a few seconds, only for no sound to exit her lungs. Their peaceful time was interrupted, however, by Pipirika and Mystras asking for Hakuto's help with a matter on the venue of their plan.

"Ah, I must return to work, Seren-san." He bowed slightly, smiling as he turned towards the Company entrance, "feel free to stay out here for as long as you like, have a nice day."

He walked on, not seeing the Princess's flushed face or hearing her hesitant reply to his words.

"...Yes"

* * *

"Why am I required to come along again?" Hakuto asked as the group arrived at Ria Venus Island. He usually wouldn't complain on a trip, but the thought of seeing Umm Maader's smug face makes it hard for Hakuto to restrain himself from chopping her head off.

_Maybe it was a Ren child thing, but everyone in his family has some kind of hidden bloodlust._

"You are the representative from Kou, the only country allied with Sindria that has any known affiliation with Slavery, you'll be required to speak in the meeting, you already know this, Prince Hakuto." Rurumu answered with reason. Hakuto sighed, indeed, those were the cold, hard, facts.

"Yes, I understand Rurumu-san."

As they approached the doors of Mariadel Trading Company, a kid approached them, Hakuto couldn't tell if they were a male or female, but they led the group through the marble building, stopping to open the door before ushering them in, giving the group no time to even look at the surroundings.

As they were left alone to wait for the President, Hakuto noted, "With the way they brought us in, you would think that they don't welcome us."

"You know they don't, Hakuto. They're just entertaining themselves by accepting this request." Ja'far allowed an exasperated eye-roll to escape his calm facade. Hakuto hummed in mock understanding, with a straight face he said, "I see, I suppose Ja'far's face _is_ pretty entertaining, it changes colors rather easily."

"Hey!"

Rurumu chuckled as the two children (in her eyes) squabbled over who's face was more entertaining. The lighthearted atmosphere disappeared as they heard footsteps approaching. Unable to restrain himself, Hakuto added one last jab to the President as the doorknob was being twisted. "I think nothing would be as entertaining as her face when we successfully get her to agree with the 'deal.'"

Because if he can't physically harm her, he'd be damned not to at least throw insults at her, Hakuren raised him quite well in that aspect.

(Hakuyuu always get headaches trying to deal with their messes.)

As the two women discussed business, Hakuto watched in interest as Rurumu talked, she sometimes went off script to add some words that made the deal sound better but as Umm Maader began questioning the legitimacy of their words, Hakuto stepped up, dipping his head with mock (not that she could tell) respect, he said, "Lady Maader, I am Ren Hakuto, the Third Imperial Prince of Kou, which I'm sure you've heard of due to the massive land expansion we've gained after winning the recent war."

The Lady nodded casually, "Yes, the rumors of Kou is that they gained a sudden boost of power by capturing dungeons."

Hakuto clasped his hands together, "as you may know, Kou is a Country that has had slavery within its culture for many years, due to the recent wars, the Empire is now looking for new shipments of slaves to work in the new farms. It is impossible, however, to get slaves from Reim due to the distance and cost. Which is why we had decided to look for a different place to get slaves _from_ Reim, which is the second biggest city of Maritime Trade. _That_ is why King Rashid had requested for so many slaves."

Maader hummed, "that makes sense then... if you're ordering enough slaves for another country..."

Ja'far nodded, "yes, that's why we need your expertise."

Maader gave them an expectant look, "well? Where's your proof?"

"We cannot show it to you here."

"Huh! And here I thought you would have some guts." Maader got up, ready to leave. "I'm not going to waste my time."

"Please wait." Rurumu said, taking out a scroll from her pocket, "this is an invitation, in three days we will be holding an event to celebrate the rebirth of Sindria Trading Company. At that event, we will be making a big announcement of our new project."

Maader scoffed, "it doesn't matter, there's no reason for me to attend."

Rurumu looked her straight in the eye and said, "with all due respect, allow me to say this once more, if what we're saying is true, it's a chance to do business on a scale that can change the world market. That's why we're asking you, a specialist, to help us pull it off. I understand that you can't trust us, however, this is a chance for both of our companies to reap an enormous profit. You can get the proof at the celebration, you can judge our authenticity with your own two eyes."

Placing the scroll on the table, Rurumu finished her words with finality, "this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, with all your wisdom, Lady Maader, what will you do? The answer is obvious, isn't it?"

Maader stared the Imuchakk down before she stood up, turning to the door, she addressed her servant, "Kil," the servant boy started, "Yes Ma'am!" Maader's coat swished as she walked towards the exit to the room, "In three days, I will be going to Napolia, make sure to make necessary changes to my schedule."

Before she was out the door, Maader glanced back, "Don't misunderstand me, Ms. Rurumu, if I find this proof lacking, I won't be sticking around for long."

Rurumu gave her an almost cunning look, "not a problem, we'll be sure to show you a celebration that will gain your approval."

As the two left, Hakuto couldn't resist mimicking throwing a knife at her, something Hakuren had taught him to do when a minister had offered his twenty year old son to their—at that time—two year old sister. Ja'far shot him a half-hearted chastising look, to which Hakuto shrugged to and gestured to the woman's back, as if saying, _'it's not like she saw it.'_

Sighing at the older's antics, Ja'far walked besides Rurumu as the trio walked towards the entrance of the building. As soon as they were out the door, Hakuto let out an exhausted groan, stretching his arms and back as he sighed. "I didn't think I would be able to taste fresh air after being stuck in _that_ slave filled hell-hole."

"Prince Hakuto," Rurumu said with a condescending tone, "please do refrain from using such language. It is most improper."

Hakuto laughed sheepishly, "I guess it's just the stress of seeing the woman's face, Rurumu-san, forgive my disrespectful words." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I suppose it is time to prepare for the celebration? I have received a message from my brothers, Father is unable to attend—as expected—but Hakuyuu, Hakuren, and Kouen are allowed to come, simply because the country is not in dire need of an army."

Ja'far nodded, "that's good, we'll need as many Kou royals as possible to pull off the 'Balbadd and Kou are trading partners' bit. Hey Hakuto, can you head to Romulus to pick up the gifts for King Rashid after we retrieve Sin? It's only proper we give him something after helping us out and allowing us to relocate our headquarters."

"Yeah, that's no problem, I _did_ learn from a letter from Kouen that he was bringing along his youngest brother, since I've expressed an interest in meeting him," looking thoughtful, Hakuto continued talking as they readied themselves for the ship, "apparently my cousin has a tendency to stab people—Kouen said that he threw a knife at his face during their first meeting,—Oh! And he apparently pummeled Koumei—what do you think about getting him a sword?"

"Wait, wait, your cousin likes to stab people so you'll give him a sword? What are you thinking?!" Ja'far gave Hakuto an exasperated look.

Puzzled, Hakuto stared at the kid oddly, "what? He's happy with stabbing people, the reason you buy gifts is to make people happy!"

"And the people in the palace will be perfectly safe," Ja'far commented dryly, flicking a speck of dust off his shoulders as the ship took off.

"Exactly!" Hakuto exclaimed, "what do I care if they get injured, _I_ believe my little cousin will have _great_ judgement, if someone got hurt, it's _their_ fault. My family's happiness comes first."

"B-But aren't they your _people?!_ " Jafar sputtered, unable to follow Hakuto's line of thoughts. Hakuto nodded.

"They _are,_ if I become Emperor, it's why everyone—including me—thinks that Hakuyuu or Hakuren would make better Emperors, they actually _give_ shits about the people." Hakuto leaned against the hard wood, his face suddenly became more somber, "me? I only care about those closest to me. I'm selfish that way."

Rurumu patted Hakuto's head, her soft hands ruffled through his raven-blue hair, "But you've fought for your country, didn't you Hakuto?" She smiled warmly at the man(teenager, really).

Hakuto shrugged, almost carelessly, "I still have responsibilities, but I think I mainly fought because Kou is so important to my Father and Brothers. I'm not really honorable, ask Sin-san when he gets back, I've killed people for betraying Kou."

_Since that meant they betrayed his family._

"I've killed too," Ja'far said bluntly, shrugging nonchalantly, "It's behind me now though, I try not to think about it."

_(If she hadn't looked, Rurumu wouldn't have seen the slight shaking in their shoulders.)_

Rurumu brought both of the troubled (they might not seem it, but she knows they are) children into a hug, "we all do things we regret," she told them, "for those important to us."

"Yeah." Hakuto didn't even notice the salty, wet drop that fell from his eyes. Ja'far didn't either.

"Yeah."

* * *

"KUTOOOOO!" Hakuren's excited shout was comforting as it was familiar, despite the annoyed sigh that Hakuto released, he couldn't help the slight upward tip of his lips as his brother tackled him in a hug.

"Hakuren." He greeted his enthusiastic brother with a reserved grin, shaking off his arms to clasped his hands and bow to his oldest brother, "Hakuyuu, Kouen." He nodded to them before he spotted a child being held by Kouen. "This must be Kouha," Hakuto smiled at the child.

Kouen nodded, turning to Kouha, he nudged his brother, "say hello to Prince Hakuto, Kouha."

The young child huffed slightly before turning away, "Hi." He said begrudgingly, much to Hakuto's amusement. Kouen, however, was not amused. "Kouha..." he began with a warning tone.

Hakuto laughed, waving off Kouen's exasperation, "isn't this kind of like Koumei's first introduction? Except Koumei fooled Hakuren into thinking he had a chronic illness."

He looked Kouha in the eye, "It's nice to meet you, cousin, now, since you guys arrived early, I'll have a hotel set up for you to live in for the next two days. Before that though, it'd be nice to give you guys a run-down of our plan and the objective."

He began walking into the building, gesturing for the group to follow him.

"Ja'far!" Hakuto called out as he led the Kou royalties into a meeting room, "our helpers have arrived."

Ja'far looked up from the table he had placed his financing scrolls on, Rurumu next to him as they stared at the group approaching them. "I don't think that's what we should be calling them..."

Hakuto laughed lightly, "I guess not," he turned around to the group of Rens behind him, "c'mon, we'll fill you in on the plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh yesssss. Here we are, our favorite Kou royals appearing once again! They'll play a role for our dear friends. I'm starting to like the relationship between Hakuto and Mystras, since they're age gap is pretty small and they both left their country as ambassadors, I feel like they'll have a lot in common. Great friends, the best. 〜（ゝ。）
> 
> I actually rewrote the Serendine scene quite a bit—in fact I'm still not that satisfied with it—but that's, that!


	14. Intermission: My Cousin Ren and his Blue Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hakuren, Hakuto and Kouha go out shopping for some quality cousin time. (And Hakuren somehow got ditched halfway.)

_Maybe,_ Hakuren thought, _Maybe this was a bad idea._

Looking at the completely bloodied man in front of him, he winced, _yeah, definitely a bad idea._

See, he didn't _think_ that taking Kouha out shopping with Hakuto and himself would end up with some street punk picking a fight. He thought Reim was supposed to be safe!

Fine! _Maybe_ it was somewhat his fault. Sure, it was _his_ idea to throw fruits at the guy, _sure. But that asshole totally deserved it._

Okay, okay. He was the one who threw the fruit, but _Kouha_ was the one who followed through and dropped the watermelon. _That_ was not his fault.

Okay he bought the watermelon, but he didn't tell Kouha to _throw_ it.

Maybe a little background would be nice.

See, what happened was that Hakuto needed to buy supplies for the party tomorrow night so Hakuren thought it would be a _great_ idea to tag along— _and_ bring Kouha with them to spend some quality cousin time.

They arrived at the market to catch rush-hour, where everything is busy and everyone is here. So like a typical, _let's-take-a-kid-out-to-shop_ scenario, they lose the _only_ responsible guy in their group in the crowd. Now, Hakuren may be intelligent, but he sure as hell wasn't responsible—he could barely complete his mathematics studies in time for the due date, most of them even have soy sauce stains on them!—so he did what a normal, irresponsible seventeen-year-old self-proclaimed babysitter would do.

He took Kouha out to buy food.

Looking back, that was probably where things first went wrong. Instead of _looking_ for Hakuto, Hakuren has decided, _nah, he could take care of himself._ Like _that_ was the problem. _No!_ The problem was _him! He_ could barely take care of himself, much less responsibly, like _hell_ he could take care of a bloodthirsty toddler in a marketplace he wasn't even familiar with! And then Kouha bugged him to buy the watermelon.

That wasn't even the worse of it, oh no, some lady had to scream at the _top of her lungs_ because some asshole looked like her ex-boyfriend— _right next to Hakuren!—_ only for the aforementioned ex-boyfriend to appear out of nowhere and cause an even bigger scene! The asshole who was screamed at turned out to be an insane druggie, cue the entrance of his punk brother, with tattoos all over their face and enough rings on his body to put Sinbad to shame!

Hakuren would love to say that they talked it out like peace-loving diplomats but _noooo!_ The entire scenario somehow escalated from _I-thought-your-ugly-mug-looked-like-my-ex-boyfriend's_ confusion to utter _how-dare-you-compare-my-brother-to-_ that- _ugly-shit_ fucking chaos!

_Then_ Hakuren has decided— _completely_ spur of the moment—to fucking toss his peach at the group and tell them to _shut up!_

He had only meant to grab their attention, but _Kouha_ decided, _'you know what, let's make this a game!'_ And just dumped his entire watermelon on the druggie. Poor guy took one look at the red juice and _freaked out._ He screamed louder than the woman who _started_ the whole situation and just ran _straight at Hakuren._

Being the impulsive genius he is, the Second Imperial Prince of Kou stuck his hand out and _decked_ the guy, straight across the face, sent him flying straight into a wall.

_Holy shit I didn't I know I was this strong._

The punk brother was _not_ happy. He jumped at Hakuren—like this whole scenario was _his_ fault! _Hello,_ he was at most a witness and a victim!—and drew out a knife out of _absolutely nowhere_ and just tried to stab him. Which, ended up with Hakuren drawing his sword—that knife was getting a bit _too_ close for comfort, and Kouha was behind him and showing off had sounded like a good idea _in his head at the time—_ parrying the blow with expertise and somehow the entire situation just devolved into a brawl.

So there he was, Kouha giggling madly behind him, a couple somehow made up (in _that_ chaos?!), and a pile of punk and druggie brothers piled up. All this.

Over a face.

Guess how his brother found him?

_"HAKUREN?!"_

Right in the middle of the entire mess.

* * *

"Honestly, I leave you guys alone for _five minutes—!"_

"Gah! Ow! Ow! Be more gentle, Kuto!" Hakuren whined as his brother applied some ointment on a cut he didn't even notice. Kouha was next to them with an utterly excited look on his face.

Huh, seems like he was still high after the bloodshed.

" _Shit!_ Be more gentle!" Hakuren's dirty mouth was going to get him in trouble one day. Hakuto just _knew_ that spending all day in the soldiers' barracks was a bad influence, he didn't think Hakuren even knew how to speak with _any_ type of eloquence.

" _Quiet!_ Kouha is _right here._ The least you can do is prevent him from cursing at six." Hakuto smacked Hakuren's injured arm.

" _OWWWWW!"_ The entire street turned to give them a dirty look simultaneously. Hakuto sighed. This was hopeless.

"Get yourself cleaned up," Hakuto stood up from the bench they were seated in. "I'll look after Kouha, you've got watermelon juice and dirt all over you."

Hakuren grumbled some unintelligible sentences before he headed to the public wash (thank _Shangdi_ that was a thing in Reim, Ja'far might just murder them if they turned up at the Headquarters with _that_ look.)

Figuring it would take his brother a while to clean up, Hakuto grabbed Kouha's hand, "How about we go shopping while we wait?" He asked the boy, who had sparkled at a nearby hat shop previously.

Nodding eagerly, Kouha hesitantly grabbed onto Hakuto's clothes as they were squished together by the crowd, his hands clenched in the blue fabric as Hakuto guided them to the hat store.

The entrance of the store felt like heaven itself when they escaped the horde of sweaty, stuffy bodies outside. Wiping his cheek, Hakuto breathed a sigh of relief, "whew, didn't think we would get through that crowd, right Kouha?"

He turned to his right, only to find the child missing from where he was two seconds ago. Hakuto blinked. "Kouha?"

Just as he was about to fly into half-panic, he spotted the boy's pink hair, he had been staring at one of the hats on display, it looked quite fancy, a blue-green color with a golden bird popping out, at the center of the hat was a emerald crystal. The hat looked quite valuable, if the gold and emerald embroidery was anything to go by.

_But Kouha looked like he wanted it._

Pondering what his wallet holds, Hakuto shrugged, he started digging in his pockets. He had managed to buy all the supplies with a bit of change left over, that combined with his lunch money should... _Ahh screw it._

Hakuto walked up to the display rack and snatched the hat from the stand, squaring down as he plopped it on Kouha's head. "Hmm... a bit too big, don't you think, Kouha?"

His cousin stared at him with wide eyes, no doubt he knew the hat was expensive. Grinning at the boy, he waved over the worker at the shop.

"Excuse me miss... but how much for this hat?" Hakuto gestured to the hat on Kouha's head. The woman must've recognized it, as she stammered, "S-Sir, that hat is not for s-sale."

"Oh?" Hakuto furrowed his brow as Kouha wore a downtrodden expression, he must've really liked the hat. The woman looked hopeful as Hakuto titled his head to the side, "not for sale, Miss? Do tell me why, it was on the display, was it not?"

The woman looked away, "w-well the hat belongs to t-the owner, he said that the hat is for display purposes only, i-it's one-of-a-kind. The hat is too heavy to wear anyways, especially with all the embroidery on it."

Hakuto smiled at the woman, he reached down and plucked the hat from Kouha's head, examining it. "If it's one of a kind..." the woman looked relieved that Hakuto seemed to consider dropping the subject.

"Then that's all the more reason to buy it! Kouha deserves a gift!" Kouha looked up, surprised by what Hakuto—this basically stranger—had declared. Hakuto ruffled Kouha's hair as he placed the hat back onto his head. "I heard you like unique things, don't you Kouha?"

Kouha nodded mutely, too shocked to reply. Hakuto's grin stretched into a smirk, the woman couldn't help blushing at the Kou-native's handsome face (although he was completely oblivious to it), "that's, that! We're taking the hat, Miss!"

Unable to respond, the woman only gaped as Hakuto tosses a pouch of gold into her hands, tugging Kouha out with him as he called behind him, "Keep the change!"

By the time they exited the shop, the crowd had thinned enough for Kouha to be able to walk without being shoved around, he pulled slightly on Hakuto's hand as he adjusted to the new weight on his head.

"Is it really fine? The lady said it wasn't for sale." He asked his older cousin, Hakuto laughed, picking the boy up and lifting him onto his shoulders to prevent him from suffocating in the crowd.

"It's fine, they displayed it, if they don't sell it, they can be sued for lying and it'll spread a bad reputation on them." Kouha grabbed tightly onto Hakuto's arms as he adjusted to his new perch. He slowly started to smile his usual smile.

"You know, you aren't that bad—not as great as En-nii though, no one is—!"

"Really? Why not?!"

"Because En-nii is never wrong!"

"That's not true! You only saw him being right, is all! I'll tell you a story of him being in the wrong!"

"No, En-nii is the best!"

"Wait tell you hear about our first hunt! That idiot blew our cover by challenging the Tiger-Hound alpha..."

* * *

_"Achoo!"_

Kouen sniffed as he paused in his reading, Hakuto had collected a wide variety of scrolls for him to read during his journeys and he was currently on the scroll, _'The Beginning of the Artemyran Way'_

_How strange, I'm quite certain that I am not ill..._

Hakuyuu, who was sorting through all the work he had brought with him on this trip looked up in worry. "Have you caught a cold, Kouen? Perhaps we should get a physician to look at it?"

Shaking his head, Kouen declined the offer, "No, Prince Hakuyuu, it was just the breeze," before he returned his attention to the book in hand. _So **that** was how castration was first thought up of as a punishment... how interesting, and perhaps a bit cruel. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay, I SWEAR this is the LAST chapter before the end of the slave arc. I just couldn't resist the temptation to add in some Ren Fam fluff. (Mainly just Hakuto and Kouha bonding, awwww! Hakuren was left behind and forgotten somewhere.) I wanted to make this longer, but I wanted it to come out on April Fools Day, a bit of a light-hearted crack chapter before shit really goes down.
> 
> I'm thinking about changing the summary a little... and suggestions?
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE LONGER, I SWEAR!


	15. The Thirteenth Stone

Umm Maader was many things. She was a business woman, a slaver, and a merchant.

She was not stupid.

She could see what they wanted her to see, those idiotic amateurs in Sindria, showing off their connections with _meager, tiny, countries._

She could also see potential, the amazing values of the _large Imuchakk, the pale Sasanians, and the blonde Artemyrans_ were not lost to her.

_Is this what they want me to see?_ Maader scoffed out loud, "Pathetic. They think this is proof of what we discussed? What a disappointment."

As she looked around, a loud shout caught her attention. At a table discussing with a Imuchakk, was a man with raven-blue hair, next to him was a man with red hair.

_That's...!_ Umm Maader recognizes royalty when she sees them, the man was undoubtedly the First Prince of Kou, the shout... _there!_

Another man with the same hair color was talking to the Prince who had spoken with her three days ago. He had been shouting. _For_ _the royalty of Kou to be here, is this perhaps real?_

The crowd was loud, but a light suddenly shone on the balcony in the venue. Everyone's attention went to the head of the company and the small boy who spoke for her. The boy introduced the large Imuchakk, _Rurumu, was it?_ And Rurumu proceeded to explain the origins of their company.

Umm Maader was not interested, so what if this company has connections to foreign, closed off countries? It does her own company no favors. What _did_ interest her, however, was when Rurumu had introduced a great benefactor of their company.

"This gentleman... the King of Balbadd, King Rashid!"

_What?!_ Maader's eyes widened as the king stepped forth, _this... I've seen this man before, in conferences held in Reim, this man... he's a genuine king!_

She watched as the Crown Prince of Kou started a friendly conversation with the king. _Are they talking about the deal? If the king is personally involved, then there is no question about this!_

* * *

Hakuto grinned as he took in Maader's expression. Next to him, Hakuren whistled, "Damn, she's thinking about some real deep stuff, huh?" Hakuto elbowed Hakuyuu, "it's time to introduce yourself, Brother Yuu."

Ja'far walked towards them, leading King Rashid to their group, "King Rashid, these gentlemen are the Princes from Kou."

"It's an honor to meet the talented King that brought Balbadd to its current standards," Hakuyuu stuck out a hand to shake with the King. "I am Ren Hakuyuu, King Rashid, I hope our Countries become great allies."

Rashid shook the hand firmly, smiling with deceptive friendliness, "likewise, I've heard much about you, Prince Hakuyuu, you are a known warrior and hero, to fight for your country at such a young age as a general, it is a pleasure."

Hakuto smiled pleasantly at the King, "We've met before, your highness, but I am Hakuto, the Third Prince of Kou, and this is my elder brother Hakuren."

Hakuren smiled and waved at the King with enthusiasm, "hello, King Rashid, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Glancing at Maader's face, Hakuto smirked as she began walking to Rurumu, Hakuren snickering lightly as he wrapped his arm around Hakuto's shoulders, "Oh, we've got her, hook, line, and sinker."

Kouen, from behind them nodded, "indeed, it seems that the introduction was enough to convince her."

Hakuyuu smiled wryly, "Well, our role here is done, I suppose we can enjoy the celebration now! I know Kouen is itching to speak with the Artemyrans about their techniques on castration."

"Alright!" Hakuren cheered as he headed to the alcohol table, Hakuto following him since his shoulder was still trapped in his brother's arm. Kouha was tucked in bed because he was too young to attend events like these. Before they left, Hakuto turned around and looked behind his shoulder, locking eyes with Ja'far, he sent the boy a wink, sending a message.

_My role here is done, the rest is up to you._

Ja'far nodded at him with determination.

* * *

_(The author was going to do the Maader and Rurumu and Ja'far meeting, but nothing really changed so he plugged in this scene instead.)_

"Kuto~ I see pheasants, the-they're eating my bread se-eds." Hakuren slurred as he looked at the pigeon that had flew by their venue. Hakuto sighed, snatching the goblet out of his brother's hands.

"Hakuren, breads don't have seeds and those are pigeons, not pheasants." He waved at a server, gesturing to her for a cup of water.

"Pigeons?" Hakuren's face scrunched up, "Li-Like those things Mei likes to f-feed? I saw them try to eat crumbs off his hair once!" The Prince giggled with mirth.

"Really? That's interesting." Hakuto sighed as he searched the venue for a trace of Hakuyuu, determined to ditch his brother to his other brother by the end of the celebration.

"Ah... Hakuto, is this a bad time?" Turning around, Hakuto was surprised to see Princess Serendine behind him, holding a cup of... punch?

"Oh, Seren-san, not at all! Please, join us." Hakuto gestured to the seat next to him, which had been recently vacated by Parsine-san.

Serendine smiled at him gratefully, sitting down. Hakuren sniffed a little from his position on Hakuto's lap. He crawled over Hakuto to get a closer look at the pink haired woman. "Hmm? Whaz' 'tis? You gotta gurlfriend, Kuto? Pretty one too!" Hakuren nodded with self-satisfaction, "you've got gud taste bro, I've taught ya well."

"A-Ah, that's not it, Hakuren." Hakuto glanced at the blushing Serendine apologetically, "I—I-uh, apologize for my brother's words, Seren-san, I hope you are not offended."

Serendine flushed even redder and stuttered, "n-not at all, i-it's okay."

The server finally came back, a goblet if water in hand. She placed it down on the table and Hakuto grabbed it, rather hastily as he pulled Hakuren up by his hair.

"Ow! Ow! Stop pulling my hair, Kuto!" Hakuren whined as Hakuto place the water in front of him.

"Drink."

Hakuren stared hard at the goblet in front of him. "Whaz 'tis? More wine?"

"No, it's water." Hakuto replied, "you're drunk."

"Nooo." Hakuren turned his confused gaze to his brother, "I'm not drunk... just... Just-tipsy! Yep! Right? Uhhh... Kuto's gurl..girlfriend!"

"Eh, me?" Serendine asked, pointing at herself. Hakuto sighed, pinching the top of his nose.

"She's not my girlfriend, Hakuren, I introduced her to you this afternoon, that's Seren-san."

Hakuren blinked, he seemed to ponder about something, before he grinned, "Well~ I'll drink the water, but only if Seren tells me to!"

Serendine blinked when all the attention was turned to her. "A-Ah..." she turned to Hakuto, only to find him begging her to _just do it,_ with his eyes. "A-Alright, Hakuren-san, p-please drink your water!"

Hakuren chuckled, "Okay~" lifting the goblet, he tipped it up and downed the water in a shot. He stood up, rather unsteadily, and stumbled. "Whelp, I-I'm gunna find Yuu and have him drink with me, since Kuto has some legendary tolerance to alcohol."

Hakuto sighed in relief when Hakuren began to stalk off, his elder brother was great, but taking care of him was not how he planned to spend the night.

"By the way, Kuto!" Hakuren had turned around, calling him over his shoulder, he winked, "she's a cute one."

_"I told you we're not dating!"_

* * *

"So, did the negotiation go well?" Hakuto asked Ja'far as the celebration came to an end.

Ja'far nodded, "we just need to wait until she finds out."

Hakuto chuckled rather darkly, "it feels bad, huh? Makes you feel dirty."

"Yeah."

"My brothers and cousins will be leaving tomorrow, don't want them to be caught up in this."

"I know."

Hakuto ruffled Ja'far's hair, "as bad as it feels, we just need to suck it up, this is all for Sin afterall."

"...I know."

* * *

"The conference should have ended by now." Mystras commented as he and Hakuto gathered the boxes they had to move. It was two days after the celebration, all the guests had left, Kouen with a package full of scrolls on his back.

"Yeah," Hakuto nodded, "she should be knocking on the doors rather soon."

As if summoned, a loud commotion started in the front of the building. Hakuto dropped his boxes on Mystras and ran quickly to the front, preventing Maader from advancing into their headquarters.

_"You,"_ she snarled when she realized just who had held her back, "you _lied_ to me."

Hakuto grunted as she renewed her efforts in pushing forward, "I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean, Lady Maader."

"You said that Kou needed slaves, that's why Balbadd needed to order so much." She hissed at him. Hakuto looked at her, feigning surprise.

"Indeed, but it seemed that Father had changed his mind, forgive me for never telling you, but the hawk he sent in only arrived today _and—_ well you weren't here today, so I suppose I couldn't have told you." Hakuto grabbed her wrists and held them behind her back. "Please do quiet down, Lady Maader, I assume a carriage ride all the way from Remano must've taken quite a lot."

" _Shut up!_ I've already prepared the slaves to be shipped out! It was all for nothing!" She screamed loudly, gathering more attention to herself.

"That may be so," a calm voice intervened, Hakuto looked up from where he was restraining the lady and saw Ja'far, who nodded at him. "But we are also in trouble, no?"

"We've just heard the news, that's a shame, it means that we are back to square one. Damn... it was such a good business opportunity too." His words didn't fit his smug smile however, and Ja'far knew it too, his eyes were shining with mirth. Hakuto snickered inwardly as Rurumu added, "It was a decision made by a whole country, there's nothing a small company like ours can do."

Ja'far frowned, "we've already prepared all the preparations too..." he pulled out the contract signed be Maader, "the one thousand slaves requested by Mariadel Company. Whether the Country decides to adopt slavery or not, all the money for the preparations have to be payed today regardless, that was the contract, no?"

Ja'far's eyes were emotionless as he reminded Maader, "For a merchant, a contract is everything, isn't that how it is, Lady Maader?"

"W-What.." Maader sputtered as she tried to regain her bearings, "Everything you told me was a lie! And now your telling me to pay?! You must be joking!"

"Even if you say so, the contract is here," Ja'far said firmly, "whether Balbadd adopt slavery or not, you still have to pay what is required in the contract, you did the same thing before, didn't you?"

"This upstart company..." Maader renewer her struggles, "everything... everything was arranged for this purpose! King Rashid, the Grand Reception, the Kou Royalty, all of it was a setup to make me fall into your trap—!"

"Of course not," Ja'far replied, "it would be impossible to prepare something of such a large scale simply to deceive you, the Reception was to celebrate the company taking new business opportunities. The truth is, after all of this, we have plans to move our main branch to Balbadd, in order to increase our trading territory. We invited those involved with our company to celebrate the news with us. We also invited King Rashid but he is a busy person so he couldn't stay for long. Kou is also a country that we conduct trading with. No one, however, said a single word about slavery at the reception, did they?"

Hakuto fought down the smirk as he asked with 'concern,' "did you have some kind of misunderstanding, Lady Maader?"

"However," Ja'far interrupted them before she could respond, "that kind of excuse won't work, as a merchant, the contract is everything, that's why..." Ja'far held up the contract, "Please pay up right now, Lady Maader!"

Maader gripped her dress tightly, looking troubled, Hakuto shot Ja'far a look, _get this done already, I don't like staying so close to her._

Ja'far nodded, "you look troubled, Lady Maader, it's written in the contract as well, in the event that you are unable to pay the full amount in cash..." he pointed at a line on the scroll, "You can substitute company property to make up to the amount still owed. 'Company Property,' in other words, your land, your buildings, or the slaves that you trade as goods."

Ja'far's eyes were harsh, as he finished his words, "so if you don't have the cash, how about substituting with your company's most valuable slave, Sinbad?!"

Maader's face was one of shock as she realized what they were after this entire time.

"I have to accept it, this time... I lost."

* * *

Hakuto sighed as he urged Kiba to go quicker, he had spent three days during his travels to Romulus, where he was to pick up the goods that they will be offering to King Rashid.

_"Normally, I wouldn't ask you to do it, but the goods are important and expensive, there are rumors of bandits on the road and—well, I'd feel safer if you went to collect."_

Ja'far has been right, the goods _were_ important. And _fragile_ too. A broken branch could result in some pretty bad losses. For that reason, Hakuto had to travel slowly to insure that nothing broke, so the one day trip turned into a _three day_ trip and he was about to die from how annoyingly slow he had to go.

_"Alright, I'll go, but Ja'far, when you retrieve Sin, do me a favor—"_

"Maa~ We're close to returning to the company, Kiba, just another few hours, most likely."

* * *

"It all seems laughable, doesn't it? That such an unsightly, corrupt, person thinks that he can change the world."

Ja'far breathes deeply as he jumped on top of Sinbad, pulling back his fist.

_"—and punch him in the face for me, will you?"_

* * *

**_Omake: Kouha sneaks into the party_ **

Kouha was suspicious. He knew something was going to happen tonight, but no one will tell him!

At least no one in his family. Ren just winks and teases him if he asked, Yuu would just smile mysteriously, Kuto would ruffle his hair and En-nii just tells him not to ask!

So he was going to find out!

"Pipirika, do you need help?"

That snapped Kouha out of his thoughts, he had snuck out of bed after being tucked in (by Kuto!) and had followed the armored man down. According to his conversation with the blonde woman from before, there's a party going on below the building.

Kouha pouted, those guys went to a party without him! The armored man was stuttering as he talked to the blue haired, big woman. Kouha clicked his tongue, _Tch. What's taking that guy so long?!_

After the man managed to leave the woman to carry her things, Kouha snuck past them and entered the party, here he saw a lot of people who looked just like the armored man and big woman from before. There were also people who were talking to birds and stuff.

"Ara~ what's this?" Kouha looked up to see a woman with blonde hair and a tattoo, her cheeks were flushed, "such a cute boy, what are you doing, up this late, boy?"

Kouha puffed his cheeks, "My name's Kouha, not boy! And I'm not cute!" He huffed, "Stupid En-nii, stupid Kuto, stupid Ren and Yuu, they went to a party without me!"

The woman giggled, "Aww~ is little Kouha upset that he was left out of the big boys' party?"

"Don't call it that! I don't believe in the big boy, small boy stuff!" He crosses his arms. "...but yeah."

The woman grabbed his cheeks, "aww, you're so cute, Big Sis Lycia's gonna teach you some of our special, Artemyran torture methods while braiding your hair!"

_And that's the start of Kouha's sadism and hair braiding habits._


	16. The Fourteenth Stone

_"Ren Hakuto... that's Arba—no, Gyokuen's child, right?"_

_"Yes, Lady Falan."_

_"He's been quite an eyesore, that naive Princess, Serendine, is quite attached to him."_

_"What should we do?"_

_"What should we do? Isn't it obvious?"_

_"Should we dispose of him?"_

_"Well, Gyokuen has so many children... I'm sure she won't mind one missing."_

* * *

The ship that Ja'far had arrived to the island on left Ria Venus quite a bit fuller. The children who were enslaved by Maader were all freed and they had gotten onto the ship rather warily. It was only Sinbad's presence that prevented them from being outright suspicious.

Ja'far sighed as he leaned against the wooden barings of the ship. Sin was below deck, taking a bath to get rid of the grime and blood that was on him. He glanced behind him, the kids were running around, braiding hairs and laughing, but there was a slight tension in the air.

Before he could approach them, an impact hit the side of the ship, causing it to swerve like a carriage. Ja'far braced himself against the ship as the sailors desperately tried to prevent the ship from tilting and sinking them all.

"Get to the starboard! We need to balance out the wait!"

"You! Head for the bow and full the sails!"

"Hey!" The a voice barked above them, a group of three men were floating, "The guy's not on the ship! I guess we drew the unlucky lot!"

The man on the left smirked, "Well, we just need to trash this ship then." He pointed his sword at the ship, Ja'far's eyes widened as the sword began collecting air and forming it into a ball.

_"Hah!"_ The man yelled, shooting the air ball at the ship, knocking overboard some boxes. He brandished the sword, "This is some damn good stuff," he complimented the sword.

As that moment, Sinbad rushes up deck, wearing his trunks but not his shirt—he had gotten out in a rush. He grabbed his sword and gritted his teeth as he managed to slice through the air ball that was headed for some of the kids.

Ja'far threw his darts and he manipulated them to capture the man in the middle, pulling hard, he was surprised by the resistance the trapped man was showing.

The man laughed, "This magic weapon has the ability to push and pull! For example... _this_ is a pull!" The strings tensed as Ja'far almost lost his footing when the man suddenly jerked back.

"And this... is a _push!_ " The magic tool fired a blast of air at him, Ja'far dodged the blow by flipping to the side and slamming against the wooden walls of the ship. The man was laughing.

"You know..." Ja'far said, drawing on the power of his vessel, "Only idiots reveal their powers and explain them."

"Haaah?— _Argh!"_ A line of electricity traveled up the string at fast speed, eletricuting the man.

**_"Household Vessel: Bararaq Sei!"_ **

Taking the chance, Ja'far threw his second dart and snagged the man's magic tool, pulling him in and tackling him to the wooden deck. Turning around, he saw that Sinbad had already succeeded in subduing the two other men and was unequipping his djinn.

Tying the man he restrained up, Ja'far threw him with the other intruders and glared at them.

"Well?" Sinbad asked them, "Why did you guys attack this ship?"

The man in the middle scoffed, "I don't know either, we got these goods and, the person who gave 'me to us told us to use 'em to get rid of some dude and that they would be either 'ere or on the road."

"Get rid of someone? Who?"

The man shrugged, "I 'unno they said to attack some guy with a spear and a wolf."

Ja'far stopped short. _Spear... Wolf..? Hakuto...?_

"You're after Hakuto? Why?" Sinbad asked, urgency entering his previously calm voice.

The man shrugged, "I told you, the person who gave us the weapons told us to go after 'im, I 'unno."

"How many are there?!" Ja'far demanded, grabbing the man's shoulders, shaking him.

The man struggled against his grip, "...maybe fifteen or so armed men—!"

Releasing his grip, Ja'far turned to Sinbad, paler than he normally is.

"Hakuto... he's alone, I sent him to Romulus to pick up a package for King Rashid! He's alone!" Ja'far exclaimed loudly, "if all the men are equipped with those magic tools...!"

Sinbad clenched his fists, "Knowing him, that guy would prioritize protecting the goods since its gifts for King Rashid, against that many alone..." The President walked towards the captain's room, his pace swift. "He's gonna have a much harder time than us!"

* * *

A hole had opened up in the road.

Stopping Kiba, Hakuto hopped off the carriage, going to examine the strange crevice that wasn't there three days ago when he passed the road.

"What is this...?" Hakuto muttered under his breath as he crouched in front of the crater, brushing his hand against the coarse dirt. "It's too small to be a desert hyacinth, the dirt is too dry to be a mating Wyrm and it doesn't..."

He took a handful of the dirt and sniffed, "—doesn't smell like any kind of animal..."

"You've got a good head!" A voice rang out from in front of the hole. A man with a massive hammer stood in front of him, "that's right! This beautiful hole was the work of my Magic Tool, the Axe of Sunken Dirt!"

"That name doesn't really sound that impressive..." Hakuto sweat dropped.

"S-Shut up! You don't need to be so blunt!" The man slammed his hammer on the ground, widening the hole as the dirt around it sunk.

"I'm not." Hakuto leapt up, landing on the carriage, urging Kiba to step away from the hole. "I'm just being honest."

The man grinned crookedly, "Hah! It doesn't matter, men, do it!"

"Ohhh!" A group of five men stepped out of the surrounding the trees, all of them stood behind the hole. The first man laughed, "We'll flatten you!"

A loud rumble sounded as Hakuto turned behind him, a group of eight men laughed, rather nastily in his opinion, and launched their magic tools, yelling, " _PUSH!_ "

A boulder was rolling down the hill, how it got up there, Hakuto had no idea, gaining momentum as it picked up speed. The men on the hill laughed, "This is the power of our new toy: the Push-Pull Sword!"

Hakuto cursed, jumping in front of the boulder, he was grateful to feel the familiar tingle of his Household Vessel. _Seems like Sin has been successfully rescued._

_**Household Vessel: Bararaq Makhlab!** _

Hakuto grunted as he coated his arms and legs with electrical Magoi, pushing against the boulder, constantly pushing at him, trying to reach the hole the bandits had prepared for it. The hole that was right behind the carriage that carried the fragile goods that was to be gifted to King Rashid.

_Fuck. This is heavy._

The Bandit Leader laughed as he waved his men forward. "Well, our target's that guy, but what bandits would we be if we don't loot his belongings?"

His men roared loudly, moving around the hole and approaching the carriage, Kiba growling menacingly, trying to keep them from reaching the goods.

Hakuto braced himself against the boulder, leaning the weight to his left as he sent a blast of electricity at the bandits, yelling in pain when he felt his left shoulder give out from the weight, the men on the hill were laughing as they increased the pressure on the boulder, determined to crush Hakuto with the boulder's weight.

"What the—? Hey, hey, you're supposed to sit there like a good boy," the Bandit Leader walked up to Hakuto, "That's right, we never got to introduce ourselves, men," the Bandit Leader grinned with his teeth, mismatched and yellow, as he gestured for the other bandits to leave the goods, "Let's give this guy a proper a greeting."

"Listen up!" The Bandit Leader growled, "I'm Marcus, the leader of this fine bandit establishment," he grinned, " _You,_ are the payment to our checkout... for these fine, fine, weapons."

He turned around, stalking to the carriage. "Men, entertain him."

Hakuto felt sweat roll from his temple as one of the men stabbed his side with a sword, _it's crooked._

The man laughed, "Well? Cry, the moment you open your mouth..." he placed his blade next to Hakuto's cheek, the cool metal fogged against Hakuto's heated skin, electric sparks still jumping off his body as he kept up the use of his Household Vessel. "...I'll cut off your tongue!"

Kiba howled loudly as the Bandit Leader attempted to muzzle his jaws with a rope. "—Aw, Shut up, you mutt!"

"Maybe we'll start by chopping off the ears..." the bandit taunted Hakuto. Another bandit laughed, their high-pitched voice tells Hakuto that it's a female. "No! Let's cut off his muscles! Layer, by layer!"

A third bandit growled, "You idiots! We can't kill him yet, we gotta let the boss finish looting and _then_ kill him, can't have the boulder crushing the goods."

The woman bandit laughed shrilly, "Yes, yes. This idiot won't be letting go of that boulder if the carriage is right in front it's path! Not even until death, just like that woman told us!"

The three bandits laughed, the one who stuck the sword into his side grabbed the sword, twisting it, widening the wound as Hakuto lurched from the pain, nearly losing grip of the boulder. _Careful! The... Gifts!_

"Hey! Be careful there, I don't want to be crushed if he accidentally let's go." The third bandit snarled. The first one laughed, still holding onto the sword, "don't worry, we'll get behind the hole in time."

Hakuto glanced behind him, the Bandit Leader, Marcus, had successfully wrestled Kiba down with the help of five other bandits. The wolf was tied against a large, old, tree. The men were opening up the carriage, Hakuto cried out in surprise when he felt another sword stabbed into him, his injured shoulder.

"Hey, hey," the woman bandit was the culprit, she leaned forward, pushing the sword deeper, "Pay attention to us! It's pretty rude to ignore the people in front of you, totally not what I'd expect from a cutey like you!"

_The gifts... their getting into it... even though Ja'far trusted me to safely retrieve it—damn it!_ Hakuto tightened his grip. If only he could destroy the rock, _no, the angle I'm at... the rubbles would crush the carriage!_

_Is this... the end?_

**_—SMASH!_ **

In a second, Hakuto felt his body relieved of the burden of the massive boulder, dust scattered around as a flash of purple caused the boulder to be destroyed, from the side, the debris hitting the bandits in the forest.

A familiar voice called out, a voice he hadn't heard in many weeks—" _Hakuto!"_

* * *

The bandage felt odd as Rurumu applied more ointment onto the sword wounds, Hakuto flinched at the sting, not expecting it to be so strong.

"It's a good thing you're safe—these wounds could've been infected." She said after she scolded him for his carelessness. "Even if the gifts are important, you shouldn't risk your life so recklessly, Prince Hakuto."

Hakuto winced at her condescending tone. "My apologies, Rurumu-san."

Rurumu nodded as she tightened the cast that was on his left shoulder, satisfied. "You may go, but you are _not_ to work until you are completely healed."

Hakuto nodded, "Yes, Rurumu-san."

* * *

Leaving the room, Hakuto was surprised to see Serendine standing behind him. "Seren-san! What a surprise!"

The Princess was staring at the ground, fidgeting with something behind her back. She lefted up a blue tunic—much like his old one—and said, "Your old one was torn up so... I made you a new one." She said quietly before raising her voice, "I-I'm not sure how to make Kou style clothes s-so you don't need to wear it!"

Clutching the blue clothing to his chest, Hakuto smiled, "Thank you, Seren-san! I'll be sure to wear it!"

The woman flushed before rushing off, leaving Hakuto alone in the hallway, excluding Mystras and Pipirika, who heard them and Vittel and Mahad, who were loading boxes without them noticing.

"...It's great to be young and in love, huh?"

* * *

"So you don't feel like you fit in?" Hakuto sat next to Masrur, who had just gotten off a fight with Hinahoho. The Fanalis stared at Hakuto in confusion, wondering why he sat with him. He heard that the man had been injured, he looked injured too, but he still sat next to him. Him, who could easily break his right shoulder just as badly as he somehow injured his left.

Hakuto grinned at him, "I know a few Fanalis, they're all very nice and—despite their superhuman strength, I think they're my comrade-in-arms, like how I think of my cousins, my comrades are family and family..." he reached out and ruffled Masrur's hair, "are the most important to me."

"Family..." Masrur grabbed onto the hand on his head, closing his eyes, he reminisced a far off memory.

_A warm hand, a gentle smile._

_"We're Family, Masrur."_

"Masrur?" Hakuto looked at the child curiously, the boy stared at Hakuto with concentration.

"I... think my father used to do that."

"Father?" Hakuto looked at the boy in confusion for a second before he rubbed his head again, "I'll be your father if you want."

"...Yeah. I'd like that."

* * *

"Hakutooooo!" Mystras cried as he restrained himself from tackling the Kou Prince, mindful of his wounds.

"Mystras!" Hakuto and Mystras clasped their hands together in a friendly high-five. Mystras cried a river as he rambled about how worried he was when Sinbad and Ja'far returned in such a rush to leave yet again, only dropping off the kids before rushing off to the road that led to Romulus, returning with a bloodied Hakuto and Kiba, but brought along with them, a perfectly unharmed carriage of gifts.

"Honestly," Mystras sighed, "you've got to stop giving us heart attacks."

Hakuto chuckled sheepishly, "I've been reprimanded enough, Mystras. You don't need to add salt to the wound."

Mystras laughed along with him, "I'll catch you later, Pipirika's been asking for my help with something."

"Oh? Pipirika-san?" Hakuto grinned, "the two of you _did_ seem awfully close lately, be careful though, Hinahoho seems like the protective type."

"W- _What do you mean by that?!"_

* * *

"Adopting at fifteen? Aren't you a bit young, Hakuto?" Sinbad stood by the window, addressing the Prince in the doorway. Hakuto chuckled,

"We can't just leave all the kids to Hinahoho, could we? Don't worry, I believe I can be a great dad!"

"Haha, yeah right."

Ignoring Sinbad's disbelief, Hakuto decided to change the subject."So I heard Ja'far punched you in the face."

Sinbad sighed, rubbing his cheek absentmindedly, "Don't remind me, for such a pale, skinny kid, he's strong."

"Really?" Hakuto chuckled, "It might've been slightly my fault, I asked him to punch you for me." Hakuto joined Sinbad next to the window, "But if it makes you feel any better, my best military achievement, at least according to my Uncle and the Elders, is a Navy Bass raid called the 'Boiling Ocean.'"

"Boiling Ocean?"

Hakuto nodded, "Weird name, right? But it's fitting, take a seat, I'll tell you about it."

The two settled on the chairs in the room and Hakuto started his story.

"It was only months before you arrived, one of our enemies, Kai, was once a country ravaged by pirates, that's why they have a strong Navy. One of their most powerful base was the 'Hū Shī,' the Lake Lion. It was a cornerstone of their army, placed in a strategic position making it hard to attack and raid.

I was ordered to supervise the fleet sent to get rid of it. The plan was originally to do reconnaissance for two months, there was a town located near it, because it helps produce food and supplies for the base. A change of plans was made, however, a month into the reconnaissance; we had to attack ASAP."

"Why?" Sinbad asked when Hakuto fell silent for a moment.

"The army fighting in Gou needed back up so we were ordered to finish this raid and sail to the east, and help my brothers, the Generals Hakuyuu and Hakuren with facing Gou.

We had to cut short the raid and make up a new strategy with only half as much time as we did previously to scout. In a week, we made up a new plan..."

* * *

_The water was burning, soldiers lit up more coal, making in burn even hotter, before launching the catapults at the ships, melting and burning the wood and metal completely._

_Soldiers jumped into the sea, only to be boiled alive by the burning, coal heated, water. Hakuto gritted his teeth as he ordered the soldiers to move their ships onland as the Kai ships were distracted by the extreme heat._

_The soldiers drew their swords and hacked away with no remorse, not even bothering to check if they were killing civilians or soldiers._

_The sea was boiling, the bright orange embers reflecting off the surface of its waters as the depths of the ocean was lit up, showing off burnt and charred corpses, most unrecognizable, but some could still see the blue of their armor, melted until there's nothing left._

* * *

"...the battle was only two hours at most, but I've killed more in that two hours than I did in the entire war. But I would've done it anyways, because we made it in time to rescue my brothers."

"Speaking of rescue, who was the guy that rescued you today?" Sinbad asked, curious about the man who had smashed the boulder and helped Hakuto early this morning.

"Oh, you mean Muu?"

* * *

_"Hakuto!"_

"Muu?! I haven't heard from you in weeks!"

The Fanalis laughed sheepishly, "I was ordered to capture a dungeon," he raised his sword, " _Barbatos!"_

"You smashed the boulder with it?"

"Yeah! I was just returning from the capture too!" Muu's smile turned into a frown when he noticed the condition Hakuto was in. "You're injured! I'll handle these bandits! Take a rest."

"But they were after me—!" Hakuto protested, only for Muu to interupt him.

"They're bandits, I'll need to capture them regardless!" He brandished his sword, a purple light coated his sword.

_"Barbatos!"_

* * *

**_This chapter was just all over the place, how many of you were surprised by Muu's appearance? I was trying not to mention him in the previous chapters am to give you guys a surprise! Here's some Omakes for you!_ **

* * *

**_Omake: Announcing the Adoption_ **

"He's my dad."

"That's my son."

The group's jaws dropped as they watched the two point at each other. _What?!_

"B-But that's so sudden!" Ja'far sputtered, "Did you two really think about it?"

The two in question turned to stare at each other, before turning and nodding their heads in sync.

"Yeah."

Hinahoho sweat dropped, "They're already so in sync."

Rurumu clasped her hands together, "That means that Masrur is our new grandson!"

Hinahoho slumped, "I'm not even that old yet..."

"Calm down, Grandpa!" Mystras snickered, Sinbad joining in.

"Yeah! Don't want you to break something, Grandpa!"

"Shut up!"

Masrur went up to Hinahoho, "Hello, Grandpa."

The entire group burst into laughter, Hinahoho the loudest.

* * *

**_Omake: Sinbad's Clothes_ **

"Here!" Serendine shoved clothes at Sinbad. "I just used leftovers from Hakuto's, so don't get the wrong idea!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got some Omakes that are short and sweet in my opinion! And a longer chapter! This one's word count is over 3,000 which is pretty nice! Also, Masrur and Hakuto's relationship: I didn't want to do the classic older brother thing since Hakuto has quite a few younger sibs and the age difference between him and Masrur is bigger than the age difference between him and Ja'far.
> 
> Speaking of age difference, Mystras and Hakuto's age difference is actually smaller than a year, Hakuto is fifteen right now, and Mystras is too!


	17. The Fifteenth Stone

* * *

Hakuto sighed when someone stopped him from carrying something for the umpteenth time. With his injuries, everyone was treating him like glass. Whenever he does anything even remotely dangerous, someone was there to stop him. It could be Ja’far, Masrur, Mystras, or Serendine, it seemed no one wanted him to so much as move.

This time, Vittel had caught him trying to move a crate of scrolls from the ship to land, immediately racing towards the Kou ambassador and insisting he handled it. Shaking his head, Hakuto slumped further when he saw Masrur—his newly adopted _son—_ carrying large amounts of wooden boards to the new building.

_To do even less work than my own child..._ Hakuto dramatically wiped a tear, _what a disgrace! Hakuren would be having a field day!_

Finally done with the stuffy feel of being kept indoors ever since they’d landed in Balbadd, Hakuto grabbed his _Guandao_ and turned to tell Ja’far that he would be leaving for a walk.

“No.”

The young assistant was quite ruthless as he shot down Hakuto’s request.

“E-Eh? Why not, Ja’far?”

Ja’far sighed, “First of all, you are _not_ lugging that thing around when you’re injured.” He pointed at his _Guandao,_ “Your not bringing your bow either.” He added when Hakuto opened his mouth.

“Then I will go with nothing, it is just a walk, I will return when I’ve had a significant amount of fresh air.” He promised, dropping his pole-arm before somehow spotted him carrying it and begin fussing.

Ja’far denied him firmly, “Absolutely not! You’ve already been targeted, you will not leave this building without some kind of protection!”

“Protection? Then...” Hakuto stopped a worker and grabbed the knife he had been using to cut some security ropes, “I’ll bring this knife with me, surely a knife is not too heavy for me?”

“No, but—!” Ja’far was cut off when he was about to protest, Hakuto had grabbed Sinbad and bodily threw him at Ja’far, hastily thanking the president as he vanished from the entrance.

* * *

Hakuto sighed in relief when the would-be Comapny Headquarter’s building was out of sight, everyone was so busy trying to fix up the building that him slipping out shouldn’t have been noticed—if he hadn’t been injured that is.

_Seriously, you break a shoulder and suddenly everyone’s treating you like a Kou-ian doll!_

Shaking his head in exasperation, Hakuto was quite surprised to find himself in a section of Balbadd he’s never seen before, _not that I’ve seen much with how much they forced me to stay in the Headquarters._

The buildings here look much shabbier than the ones near the port, the people seemed to be wearing clothes that barely keeps them warm, a man walked by, sweating so heavily that he looked like he had drenched himself in oil. Looking at the area, Hakuto knew instantly where he was.

_The slums._ Kou does not have slums, everyone in Kou have equal opportunities, but Gou did have slums, during a battle in Jishao, Hakuto remembered crashing into a raggy tent filled with holes, the people who had been living in it were pale and skinny, their malnourishment rather clear to see.

As he continued to walk forward, Hakuto was stopped by a woman. She had on clothes that were not Balbaddian, it wasn’t even clothes that belonged to someone in the slums. Her brown hair was too healthy and her eyes too bright to have belonged in the slum’s poor condition.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” She said to him, looking Hakuto straight in the eye. Hakuto noticed that the almond color was tinted with an odd look, like nostalgia. “The life of a commoner is so beautiful...”

She gazed at the yellowed buildings lovingly, “Of course, I wouldn’t expect royalty to know.” Her gentle expression morphed into a sneer, “Commoners live a life better than any nobles. I truly pity you, to not understand what a great life it was.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Hakuto asked her, the brunette laughed, her tanned arms clutched her stomach as her shoulders shook.

“I suppose you won’t know me... don’t worry, it would be quite a surprise is if you do, Prince Ren Hakuto.” She said as she finished quieted her laughter. Her graceful face darkened, “This won’t be the last time we meet, Prince Hakuto.”

Her sing-song voice faded as the woman disappeared when a man ran pass, his entire back scorched with blazing flames. The man was screaming as the fire ate into his skin, burning him alive.

Many people attempted to pour water on the man but it simply caused the fire to burn brighter, consuming the nearby people as the man’s screams abruptly quieted. The large fire slowly burnt out and the remains of the man was but a charred lump of flesh and ash.

* * *

“Hey, you!” A young voice called out, it was high pitched and loud. Obviously a child’s.

Still slightly shakened by the strange occurrence only minutes ago, Hakuto turned around to see a young boy with dreadlocks. He was wearing white rags that could barely be considered clothes, holes opened all over the rough material. The boy couldn’t be more than 5.

“Yes?” Hakuto asked, hand automatically extending to the knife in his sash, cautious after the previous event.

“That’s a damn good knife you’ve got their!” The boy sneered, stepping forward, “Give it here.”

“This?” Hakuto waved the blade around, looking curiously at it, “This is just a simple knife, kid, it’s nothing special.”

The knife was short, around the length of his wrist to his elbow, the grip was poorly made and although the blade was sharp enough to pierce skin, it was made primarily to cut tape and ropes, not for combat.

“Still,” the boy stretched his arm out and straightened his back, attempting to look intimidating, “give it here.”

“Oh?” Hakuto smirked, he didn’t have anything to do anyways. He dangled the knife just above the boy’s height, “Come get it, kid.”

“Alibaba, now!” The boy shouted as a flash of yellow temporarily blinded Hakuto, who felt a small weight smash into him, nearly causing him to lose balance. He winced when a sharp pang from his side shot into him, the tackle had irritated his wound.

Getting a clear look, Hakuto saw that his assailant was a young boy whose hair was as golden as the Balbaddian King that he had met weeks before.

“What is this?” He asked as he stared at the wide, fear filled, golden eyes of the child who was still clinging onto his head.

“Alibaba!” The dreadlock boy yelled, rushing to tackle Hakuto. “Get away from him!”

“Hey!” Hakuto leapt to the side and the blonde boy, Alibaba, fell unceremoniously onto the ground with a yelp. “Calm down, I’m not even doing anything!”

The boy turned around and managed to throw a punch at Hakuto’s injured arm, causing him to curse loudly as he used his good arm to grab the young boy by the collar and hold him at arms length away from him.

“Kassim!” Alibaba cried loudly, getting up to attempt to attack Hakuto. The teenager holding his arm up in order to prevent the kid from grabbing his knife.

“Hey, calm down, kid!” Hakuto managed to hook his sling around the young boy’s abdomen, holding it with his right, unbroken arm as his left arm hung uselessly to his side.

“Ow. Yeah, I see why they don’t want me to work anymore, this hurts!” Hakuto said as he tilted his head down, eyeing the two captured kids. “How come you guys want the knife?”

The boy with the dreadlocks, Kassim, muttered something.

“What?” Hakuto lifted the boy up.

“I said.” The boy snarled at his face, “that having a knife will protect you, dipshit.”

“Whoa, don’t say things like that, kid.” Hakuto squinted as he took in his face, “You’re what, five?”

“ _Six.”_ Kassim corrected him, pointing at the blonde hanging next to him, “ _He’s_ five.”

Alibaba pouted, “I’m _almost_ six.”

“Shut _up,_ Alibaba!” Kassim snarked, before he suddenly jerked forward when Hakuto shook the both of them. “What the hell?”

“Calm down. Both of you.” Hakuto demanded, his princely aura overflowing as he looked at the two pre-prebuscent boys. “You attacked a grown man—with a knife—for a knife?”

“Hmph! Your not a grown man, you look like you’re not even twenty!”

“That... is true.” Hakuto admited, “But!” He added quickly, “You become an adult when you can drink!”

“Drink?” Alibaba asked him with eyes filled with wonder and Hakuto inwardly cursed himself for blurting our what Hakuren had told him years ago.

“Actually, don’t drink, that’s a bad idea.”

“Why?” Kassim challenged him, “afraid that we’ll become adults?”

“What? Why would I be afraid that?” Hakuto asked him, genuinely confused.

“Sh-Shut up!” Kassim sputtered, “And your getting off topic, give us the knife!”

Any other scenario and Hakuto would’ve handed the knife gladly to the kid, _He needs it to survive afterall. But..._

Hakuto inwardly winced as he thought of Ja’far’s reaction if he returned to the headquarters without the “protection” he promised to keep on him.

“Sorry kid, I might die if I don’t keep it.”

“What do you need it for? You told us it was just a knife!” Kassim demanded, stomping his feet for a honest-to-god, cute effect.

“It’s just — I don’t want to die yet, okay?”

“Why’d you die, big brother?” Alibaba asked quite innocently. Kassim nodded to the blonde child’s question.

“Yeah, why’d you die, old man?”

“First you call me a kid and then you call me old? Make up your mind, kid!” Hakuto exclaimed before he shook his head and messed up his hair.

“Well — I got in a... fight. So now everyone’s worried that I’ll be in danger if I don’t bring some kind of ‘protection’ with me.”

“Protection? We can protect you, big brother!”

“Don’t volunteer me along with you, Alibaba!”

Hakuto chuckled at the two’s antics, it reminded him a bit of Hakuyuu and Hakuren’s arguments when they were younger, the second prince would always get in trouble and either him or Hakuyuu would scold him when they get him out of trouble.

“Alright, how about this, boys.” Hakuto called out, catching their attention. “You get me back home, and I’ll give you the knife and some pocket money, how about it?”

Normally he wouldn’t have bothered but... these kids grew on him.

“ _What!?_ Why would we do that?”

“Don’t you want the knife?”

Alibaba shook Kassim a little, “Come on, Kassim, we get payed too!”

“Yeah, Kassim!” Hakuto added, grinning as he dangled the knife in front of Kassim’s face. “I thought you wanted the knife!”

“Fine! We’ll go with you, old man!” The child spatted out as Hakuto smiled.

* * *

“Where’d the kids come from, Hakuto?”

Vittel asked as he saw Hakuto by the doorway, two children trailing after him. “Don’t tell me you’re going to adopt more.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Vittel.” Hakuto sighed as he stepped into the building cautiously, glancing around to see if Ja’far was anywhere around. “I just promised them something.”

“If you’re looking for him, Ja’far went to meet King Rashid with Sinbad and Hinahoho, they brought the gifts too.” Vittel informed him as Hakuto released a sigh of relief.

“That’s good, I don’t think he would approve of me being out of my cast.”

“You _what?!”_ Mystras screeched loudly as he dropped the crates he was carrying. “Put it back on, Hakuto! Ja’far’s going to kill me if he finds out you did.”

“Yes, yes, he’ll kill you after he kills me so I find no reason to worry.” Hakuto said decisively, waving off the panicking Sasanian who had all but shook him to oblivion. “Anyways, the two boys here just accompanied me back.”

Turning to the scowling Kassim and the wide-eyes Alibaba, Hakuto bent down and handed the knife to Kassim, grabbing the pouch of silver on his sash and tossing it to Alibaba.

“Thanks for your service, boys.”

“Whatever old man!” Kassim grumbled as turned away, face slightly red as Alibaba beamed, holding up the money he received.

“Thank you Big Brother!”

* * *

“We’re those my new brothers?”

Hakuto choked on the water he had been drinking, wiping his face, the Kou ambassador laughed nervously. “No! No, of course not!”

Masrur nodded emotionlessly, “They left...”

“They did,” Hakuto confirmed, rubbing his shoulder as he stretched slightly, “We’ll be leaving soon too, to the Dark Continent.”

“I thought you’re injured.”

“I am.” Hakuto smiled, “But I volunteered, especially since no one else in the company knows the Torran language.”

“Torran language?”

“Yeah,” Hakuto grabbed his spear and swung it experimentedly with his good arm, “it’s the only other language other than the common one... pretty mysterious how only a single race in the world speaks it as its home language.”

“Only one?”

“That’s right.” Hakuto squated down and inspected the dulled blade of his _Guandao._ “Only the tribes of Torran speak it, but Kouen was quite adamant about learning the language so I tagged along as the great friend I am and learned it as well.”

“You know someone who spoke the language?”

“Teacher Wu is quite the language teacher,” Hakuto grimaced at the Torran-Kouian man’s ruthless lessons. He patted Masrur’s head, “Maybe I can introduce you? Would you like to learn Torran?”

Masrur shook his head, “No.” he denied.

Hakuto laughed, “Yeah, it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing to interest you.”

“No it doesn’t.” Masrur said, face impassive.

“Well,” Hakuto stood up, “I’ll need to sharpen this blade if I’m going to the Dark Continent. That place has quite some dangers.”


	18. The Sixteenth Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hiatus! I’ve been trying to rewrite previous chapters so the updates will be slow, thank you for your patience.

Hakuto grimaced when Ja’far pushes at his shoulder.

“It’s mostly healed... you should be able to use your shoulder in a few more weeks!” Ja’far announces, happy that Hakuto was healing properly.

“I’m sure it won’t take weeks, I’ll be fine by the time we reach the Torran village.” Hakuto offered, hoping to be able to take off the bandages earlier.

Ja’far jabbed his sides, “No you won’t!” He declared, shaking his head, “At least it’s only your shoulders that aren’t completely healed, your torso should be good to go!”

Sighing with relief, Hakuto stretched his right arm, “That’s good, I’ll be able to work again then?”

“No!”

Hakuto flinched at the loud yells that were directed towards him. “Yes, I understand.” He sighed, walking to lean slightly on the side of the ship as he brood over his inability to work.

“Can I at least do some exercises?”

* * *

The bow of the ship landed softly on the ground.

“Wow, Cathargo’s really sandy.” Mystras mused aloud, glancing at the brick buildings with a look of wonder. Hakuto hummer in agreement as he waved away the sand that threatened to blind him. Slinging his bow across his shoulder, Hakuto checked his quiver that is attached to his hip before hefting up his pole-arm.

During the two weeks it took to sail to the Dark Continent, Ja’far had relented and allowed Hakuto to carry and use his own weapons, Hakuto reasoning that the Dark Continent was dangerous and he’ll need to use his weapons anyways.

As they walked on, Hakuto tugged his good over his eyes, turning his gaze downwards in order to avoid the sandy wind. “This gust is annoying though, it gets sand into the eyes.”

The men in front of the exit were quite skeptical on whether they should allow children to traverse the Dark Continent. The notion was quickly corrected with Hinahoho and Drakon’s help.

Sinbad whistled, “Damn, you guys sure did surprise them.”

Hakuto nodded, “I agree, although it irritates me that they wouldn’t have let us through if the two of you had not shown.”

“It can’t be helped, we’re just kids afterall,” Mystras laughed, being the voice of reason for once.

“So this is the Dark Continent... it looks like a beach without water.”

“That’s called a desert, Sin.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Sure.”

“What’s with that tone, Hakuto?!”

“...it’s nothing.”

Sinbad stopped, turning around to grab onto Hakuto, “What do you mean, it’s nothing? You don’t think I know what a desert is, right?! Well I do!”

Hakuto looked away, “...I suppose I had my doubts.”

“ _What?!_ ”

“-Alright! We get it Sin, you know what a desert is.” Ja’far pushed Sinbad away from Hakuto—who’s face was about to match a cacti’s color from the Dungeon Capturer’s shaking—before turning his head and muttering in a low voice, “I can’t say I blame him.”

“ _I can hear you!_ ”

* * *

“Are you sure you’re fine with the detour?” Hakuto asked Masrur, the Fanalis stared back blankly before he nodded.

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have to go along with Sin if you don’t want to.”

Another nod. “I know. I want to see.”

Hakuto smiled, “At least you’re more mature than Sin,” he placed his hand softly on the strawberry-red hair, “It’s kind of sad, to be more mature than someone almost twice your age.”

“It is.”

The two continued to walk with a silence that was comfortable for the both of them.

“Why are you guys suddenly so awkwardly quiet?”

Clearly the others thought otherwise.

* * *

Heliohapt was certainly a sight Hakuto had never seen before, not even in his years of war.

Gou and Kai had nothing on the massive stone pyramids that towered over even the tallest of Imuchakk warriors.

“I have never in my life seen such a unique structure.” Drakon said, pulling back his hood to get a better look at the sandy tent-like buildings.

“Indeed,” Hakuto agreed easily, pulling his own hood down completely, his raven-blue hair tossed around by the wind, he had to leave his hairpiece behind in order to wear the hood, so his hair was bound together into a small ponytail, keeping the blue locks from his face and obstructing his vision. “I must make a note to include this on my next letter to Kouen, he will surely want to know more about a secluded country like this.”

“That cousin of yours sure loves history.” Sinbad noted, moving ahead of the group in his excitement to tour the country.

Hakuto grinned slightly, “Yes, he does,” before following after their leader. 

As the group advanced into the city, Sinbad noticed Mystras lagging behind the group. “Hey Mystras, something wrong?” He asked, concerned for his friend.

“I-It’s nothing...” Mystras squeaked, hiding his red face in his hands.

“Are you certain, Mystras?” Hakuto asked, genuinely worried when he saw the Knight’s red ears.

“T-Trouble...!” Mystras finally said, “The women here are even more exposed than in Artemyra!” He exclaimed, hands trembling.

“That’s true,” Hakuto notes as Ja’far twitched, annoyed, “The civilians aren’t very concerned with covering up. It seems they aren’t very concerned with modesty, physically at least.”

“It’s fine, Mystras.” Sinbad said, confidence radiating off himself as he shamelessly ogled the women. “It must be part of this country’s culture, in that case we should be as bold as we want!”

“What do you mean, Sinbad?” Mystras asked, confused with Sinbad’s implications.

“It means... that we should ogle whatever we want!”

“That’s right, as expected of you, Sinbad!”

“Wait a minute!” Ja’far was quick with his darts, immediately entangling the two men with his blood red darts.

“What are you doing, Ja’far?!” Sinbad cried, struggling to escape the bondage.

Ja’far twitched before he pulled on his ropes harder, tightening his hold on the two in front of him. “That’s what I should be asking!”

“Hakutooooo,” Sinbad whined, “You’re a man, join us!”

Hakuto sighed, hands on his hips as he leveled the two in front of him with a disappointed look, “You asked me to join you on your quest to make a country, not to go play around with women.”

Sinbad flopped to the ground, “This isn’t fair! Why are you doing this, Ja’far?! You should start experiencing the wonders of adulthood!”

“Oh? The ‘wonders of adulthood?’” Ja’far twitched, hands shaking as he tightened his fists, “is it the same ‘wonders of adulthood’ that got us into TROUBLE?!”

Sinbad winced when the white haired boy started shaking him, “You do this every time! Remember Sasan? Or _Artemyra?_ Did you forget all the hardships we went through? I don’t want to get caught up in something again!”

They were starting to attract attention, the crowds were staring at them oddly, just as Hakuto was about to quiet them, a group of Heliohaptians rushed up to them.

“What’s the ruckus? Hey—” the team froze when the group called them out, “You guys... are foreigners?!”

_This is bad! We’re gonna cause another uproar!”_ Hakuto thought, mentally preparing himself for a harsh welcoming.

He was surprised, however, when the Heliohaptians didn’t look angry or upset. They crossed their tanned arms over their chest and smiled brightly, “Welcome travelers... to the mysterious country of Heliohapt!”

The proclamation surprised him, Ja’far too, it seemed, since his grip on Sinbad and Mystras loosened considerably.

The young man continued, “It must’ve been hard to cross the desert! Allow me to lead you to an inn!”

“U-Um... what?” Ja’far stuttered, surprise by their warm welcome.

“Or perhaps you would rather enjoy a tour of our sightseeing spots?” The young man continued, genuine enthusiasm shining through his smile, no deception was detected in his eyes, the young man seemed like a genuinely helpful person.

“No—”

“Sure thing!” Sinbad interrupted Ja’far, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Sin! We don’t even know them!” Ja’far protested, glaring sharply at his leader.

Hakuto agreed, “That’s true, it’s not that we deem you suspicious,” Hakuto quickly told the young Heliohaptians, “We are simply wary of strangers being as benevolent as you.”

The young man scratched his head sheepishly, “No, no! We understand perfectly! Perhaps we were too rushed...”

“If there is a reason on why you are being so kind, it would be much more reassuring.” Hakuto added helpfully.

“Haha...” the Heliohaptian chuckles nervously, “Sorry, we’re still not used to this...” The bigger man behind him patted his shoulder, “As you may know, the country of Heliohapt have been isolated from the rest of the world because of the surrounding deserts.”

The group (Ja’far) nodded in understanding. The young man in the front continued the bigger man’s words, “According to the new policy set by our current King, however, we are trying to actively seek out contacts with other countries. As the younger generation, we are tasked to act as mediators between other countries and ours.”

“Essentially,” the woman behind him elaborated, “We are given the mission to reach out to any visitors of our Country.”

The trio bowed their heads, “We got overexcited and neglected to explain properly, sorry for startling you.” They apologized softly, eyes on the ground.

“Hey Ja’far,” Sinbad said, standing up as he finally escaped the now-loose holds of the red wires. “Since that’s the case, we can trust them, right?”

“You’re just going to trust them?” Ja’far inquired skeptically.

Sinbad nodded his head, “Yep! Besides, it’s a sightseeing tour!”

“It’s free of charge too, no reason to refuse,” Hakuto added from next to the boy as the young Heliohaptians shook Sinbad’s hands with enthusiasm. “Besides, it’ll definitely be beneficial for us in the long run if we acquaint ourselves with the Country.”

“That’s true...” _But,_ Ja’far’s thought wondered to the heavy presence he felt ever since they’ve arrived, _I can’t help but feel as if someone’s watching us._

Before he could ponder more on the topic, a hand landed on his head, casually ruffling his white hair. Ja’far peered up to see Hakuto frowning slightly before he smiled down at the two of them, the epitome of casual, “Let’s go, Ja’far, Masrur.” _It’s not like we can mention it right now._

“Yeah...” _I just hope nothing happens..._

* * *

“Wow! So cool!” Mystras exclaimed loudly, pointing out different things to Sinbad as the two of them ran ahead, leaving the rest of them in the dust. Watching the two of them dashing through the market like children made Ja’far slightly irritated by their lack of professionalism.

“Haha, the medicine made here are quite fascinating, Adio-dono.” Hakuto complimented as they strolled along the shops at a leisurely pace.

The light haired man scratched the back of his head, grinning with boyish bashfulness, “I’m glad you think so, Hakuto-san.”

As the two in front of the group finished examining one object, another caught their attention - the mandrulu.

“It’s a plant that only grows in this area. If you boil it alive, it becomes a medicine that works rather well with headaches!” Adio exclaimed proudly, gesturing to the odd, doll-shaped plants that Mystras and Sinbad were gawking over.

Ja’far’s face lit up with awe as he looked at the items Adio was explaining to them with a vigor that hadn’t appeared since the start of their tour. “That’s amazing, I’ve never seen them before.”

“Since Heliohapt is a country at the edge of the Dark Continent, we have many plants and animals that don’t exist in other countries!” Adio explained, cheerfully pointing out other specialties that Heliohapt offered.

“Our people have been studying them since ancient times, cultivating our knowledge and techniques for preparing and mixing these plants.” Adio continued, leading the group to a stall where there were people crushing plants, “Our medicine works extremely well and people from all over the world have come to Heliohapt to request for them.”

Taking out a handkerchief, the Heliohaptian gave Sinbad and Mystras a pill each, “For example, these helps recover from exhaustion.”

“Heh~ the medicine works quite well, perhaps I should send some back for Father and Mother,” Hakuto mused to himself as he examined the round pills, ignoring the pair who were on the ground after hearing the ingredients that were used for the medicine. “And give some to Hakuren as revenge for drinking so heavily during the celebration that was held in Reim.” He added as an afterthought.

Ja’far sweat dropped when he heard the older man, “While it is true that the methods may seem strange, there is no denying that the years of refinement on technique and research have made these medicine extremely effective.”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” Sinbad exclaimed, turning to Adio, “How much are these medicine? Can they be mass produced?”

“If you’re that interested,” Adio said, “You should try visiting the palace where they handle diplomatic matters...” He backed away from the enthusiastic man as Sinbad spun around, “In that case, we should head to the palace immediately—its the place with the giant triangle-shape right? I’m getting excited!”

As Mystras raced after him, the rest of the group followed at a much more sedated pace, with the exception of Ja’far who attempted to catch up to the leader and explain that, _“We’re not here for a diplomatic mission, Sin!”_

Hakuto chuckled softly, like that would stop Sin from attempting to negotiate anyway. Bringing up the rear with Drakon, he glanced back when a hooded figure ran into Adio, their tour guide shaking his head before following after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adios is a made up name for the Heliohaptian who was in the Manga. I’m not sure if his name ever got revealed.


	19. An.

Hey! To all those who read this story, I hope you liked it so far! Now, here’s the thing, although I’ve liked Stone Skipping as it is, I’m going to be uploading an EDITED and REWRITTEN version of it with the exact same name. As of the time this little AN is posted, Stone Skipping ver. 1 will be paused permanently and the first chapter to Stone Skipping edited will be posted. I hope you guys will find it enjoyable!

**Author's Note:**

> Is the fandom alive? I thinks so... if you’re still here, do give me a comment so I know people will read this...
> 
> This is the prologue!


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